Darkest Day
by Gmann
Summary: When a Buster Call goes to the wrong island, Luffy's life is changed forever along with the One Piece world. Now nine years after Dawn Islands destruction, a vengeful Straw Hat will make his appearance on the World Scene. There are no happy beginnings in the East Blue, but maybe this beaten down group of misfits can come together and make a crew of dreams. New fruit
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece Duh

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A lone figure stood atop a cliff overlooking the East Blues full glory. The sky was exceptionally nice today, only partly cloudy with a chance of drizzle. It was a good day to go sailing, to continue an adventure or even begin a new one. In fact it made sense for the East Blue to be rejoicing as its biggest monster silently wept before the grave that held his brother.

Luffy bent to one knee with hat in hand, the pain almost too much to bare. This was going to be dark day for all, because it was the day Luffy began his vengeance on the world for what they did. If only the World Government knew what was coming. The storm that was brewing to the bubbling point. A rage filled demon would finally sate his desire. But now, at this very moment, the demon allowed one final act of mourning.

"I'm sorry Ace," spoke Luffy with a sorrow filled grin, "I know real men don't shed tears of goodbye." The disfigured teen stood up and turned away, placing his straw hat on and covering the uneven patches of dark hair. "I'm going now. I'll make a name for myself and fulfill your dream." The straw hat boy walked slowly down the hill and through the charred remains of what use to be a massive forest. As he moved, Luffy made sure not step on any newly growing plants springing out the dirt. Funny how life persevered even after a catastrophic event like the Buster Call.

Luffy walked past a blackened enormous crater, the size of an amphitheater. This was the place he had honed his skills as a fighter which only served to make the crater deeper in time. Walking to a different part of the mountain, the teen saw another place that brought forth much emotion and trepidation. Luffy walked forward and bent on one knee and removed his hat once again, paying respects to had been the best (only) mom he'd known. The long since burned building seemed to groan at his presences.

"I'm leaving today Dadan. I-I'm sorry that this is the path I've chosen. The risk will be great, but it's something I must do."

No tears were shed this time, and not because Luffy didn't feel strongly. He had simply cried out the last tears he had to give. After a good ten minutes of kneeling, the teen once again lifted up and began walking down the barren wasteland that had once been Dawn Island. This slow pace walk lasted nearly two hours before he reached Foosha Village.

As Luffy walked among the blackened ash, he could almost hear the souls crying out for vengeance. Practically drove him mad. These people had done nothing wrong. They were only living their fucking life until everything ended that day.

" _Why are the marines firing at us?!"_

" _It doesn't matter, just keep running!"_

" _Aarrg!"_

" _Woop Slap! Common I'll help you walk, please just keep moving!"_

" _Leave me Makino! I said Go! Run into the forest as quick as possible!"_

" _But the entire forest is a blaze! Oh Luffy, Ace!"_

" _Ok then. Go to the Bar cellar! It's your only hope. Go, go, dammit! Leave me be!"_

 _Boooom!_

" _Now!"_

Luffy looked up at the finally place of mourning. It was the remains of Makino's bar, which had oddly sustained the most damage of any home. Mysteriously the whole thing was completely ripped from the foundation, leaving only the layout left instead of a burned out shell. For the final time, his knee hit the ground and hat was taken off in respect.

"I'm leaving Makino. The day me and Ace dreamed about has finally come. I-I'm sure you would say that as long as I'm happy your happy. That was just the type of loving, caring human being you were. And tell Woop Slap sorry that one last criminal has to come from this village."

With that, Luffy rose from the lowered position. He wore only a simple gray thermal shirt, black pants, and combat boots. This was all he could pillage from the wreckage of Goa Kingdom, which was fine for now. He could get some new clothes at the next island. His right good eye was bloodshot from the crying, the hole where he use to have a left eye ached with pain more than usual. Luffy looked at the docks where his boat waited for him.

The boat had been constructed by his own hands over the course of 9 years. After a lot of remodels and many splinters, a version that could actually float was built. Finding timber that wasn't completely burned or useless had been a difficult challenge. Salvaging wood from Foosha village had been out of the question after removing a piece of timber and finding a charred family underneath. They were holding each other even in death. Family was a bond even death couldn't sever.

As far as Luffy was concerned, he had no family. Not anymore.

The straw hat stepped onto the simple row boat. Picking up an ore, he slowly began rowing away from the shore. He wouldn't miss this place. This was a place of nightmares and destroyed dreams with him being the lone survivor. A single avenger.

"It should have been me Ace," voiced Luffy to the now clouded sky. "You should be mourning me and setting out on this grand adventure. I was always weak and could never keep up with Sabo or you. I should have been the one to die, but instead you shielded me. Even gave me power to avenge the fallen. I swear I won't waste this chance."

Luffy continued to row for hours without stopping, enjoying the change in scenery. The ocean was so very beautiful. Endless possibilities resided in its majesty. Deep in thought he almost missed the large pink ship currently sitting idle behind a large reef. Looking closely, he saw that the ship was definitely pirate judging by the black flag. This struck Luffy as odd, because what pirate would have a fucking pink ship with hearts painted on. Although it had been a long time since the raven saw other human beings. In fact this was going to be the first time in 9 years.

However, before Luffy could leap aboard, the ship started moving out from behind the reef. Luffy followed the vessel with his eye, trying to follow the path it was headed to. Far off, there was just a blip on the horizon that seemed to be the destination. Using Observation Haki, he sensed that this must be a civilian ship considering how weak the auras were. Then again, Luffy was comparing them to himself.

It was an odd sensation to feel other life forms again, especially humans. The feeling wasn't something that could be described to people who interacted with others on a regular basis. It wasn't an entirely good experience either. There was something a little terrifying about it.

"Pirates are attacking!"

Wow, that was the first voice Luffy had heard in 9 years. Husky and rough, filled with fear and apprehension. The pirate ship proceeded to fire upon the civilian ship, caving in half the deck and destroying the mast. At once the pirate began to board the stranded ship, causing havoc and chaos. Though the takeover didn't last at all.

Luffy's boat finally stopped beside the pirate and civilian ship. Which one to board? Odds were that either way he would have to fight someone, which was perfectly fine with him. In fact that was what he wanted. The straw hat jumped aboard the civilian ship by braking through the lower window, landing with a roll into a small storage room. He heard a shrill yelp that sounded like a wounded puppy.

Turning around, there was a young boy with pink hair cowering in the corner who was shaking like a leaf. Not knowing what to say or do, Luffy tried to speak but it came out like a growl, frightening the boy further. Before he could try again, three burly men walked in sporting beards, tattoos, and sabers.

"Coby, where…who the hell are you," spoke the first man, eyes shifting to Luffy. The pirate visibly recoiled when he saw Luffy had an empty hole for a left eye. The others followed suit. Nobody really moved for a while before the pirate in the back asked:

"A-Are you a bounty hunter?"

"No. I'm the new Pirate King."

Everyone went silent. If anyone thought this was a joke or found it funny, they didn't show it. They could tell something was off about this guy. The last one was actually backing out the room until Alvida screamed from the upper deck.

"What in the hell is taking you all day!"

Damn, that Alvida might be the scariest person on the sea. That's how her crew saw her anyway, which is why the men sprang into action. Well that word was actually inaccurate because it makes it sound like they were eager to fight. No, something deep inside was keeping them grounded to the floorboards even after hearing their captain. Finally the first one jump forward and swung downward. Midway, Luffy threw a lighting quick punch, his fist going through the pirate's stomach with sickening slosh noise.

It was only until the pirate's sword hit the ground did everyone react.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh! Run! Run! Get the fuck out!" The remaining pirates fled like death was on their heels.

As Luffy pulled out his hand, the man's insides slid out along with it. Blood quickly pooled at Luffy's feet and seeped through the cracks in the floor. The one eyed teen looked toward Coby, who was crying and shaking extremely violently. The boy even shit and pissed his pants right there. Seeing nothing to do here, Luffy left and began looking around.

Meanwhile the terrified pirates nearly broke their necks getting upstairs. Because they had taken too long, Alvida had also been walking down the stairs and in the haste of fleeing the two men pushed their captain down to get out. As soon as they got to deck, they jumped from the civilian ship to Alvida's ship and finally ran to a corner to cower.

Iron Mace Alvida sat up and dusted herself off, noting to kill those two after this was done. However, when she began walking down the corridor, the captain noticed that blood was pouring out of a room. Walking far enough to look through the doorway, she saw one of her men disemboweled on the floor and Cody sitting in a puddle of his own excrement. This didn't look to good. Could be that bounty hunter Zoro that did this.

"Alvida! Alvida!"

Hmm, looks like something was wrong. Alvida hefted her mace onto her large shoulders and ran up the stairs back to the deck. When finally up there, she noted that all of her crew had jumped back on the pirate ship. There were two men that lacked heads slumped over next to a rather short man with one eye and a straw hat.

Similarly, Luffy looked at Alivida, but with great indifference. Opting not to wipe off the blood off his hands, Luffy turned to the obsess women and began walking towards her.

"Do you feel like fighting to?"

Alvida for the first time was greatly afraid. This man wasn't a normal human. "I-I-Are y-you Roronoa Zoro," she stammered.

"No. Tell me about him."

Alvida complied, not knowing what else to do. Staring into his empty eye socket was like staring into the void. Same goes for his right eye in that respect. "H-He is a famous bounty hunter in the East Blue that uses t-three swords. T-they call him a demon."

"I see. Well my ride is here, thank you for the good information. In return I will not kill you."

Then Luffy walked past the stunned women just as cannon fire erupted, sending the scene into chaos. After snapping out of her stupor, Alvida ran and jumped onto her ship, screaming commands to get the fuck out of here. Two Navy ships had showed up, firing cannons at an incredibly slow rate.

Luffy stood for a second. Thoughts becoming a jumbled mess as the past flashed before his eyes.

" _Luffy run faster!"_

" _I am Ace! Why is this happening? Why is Gramps letting this happen?"_

" _Don't ask questions, just move!"_

 _Boom!_

" _What the hell! Is-is that lava!?_

" _Didn't you hear me? I said KEEP MOVING!"_

Luffy snapped out of his thoughts only after a cannon whizzed by his head and splashed in the ocean. The pirate jumped into the air and geppo'd over to the first ship. Oh he would relish this. Though it would only be a fraction of the revenge he would dish out. The straw hat landed behind the marine captain currently trying to bolster his troops.

"We will be capturing Iron Mace Alvida today men. We must take heart, as she is probably the strongest pirate you will all face in-"

Luffy cut the man off by first latching on to his neck, then jerking upwards ripping the head off. Blood erupted in all directions, drenching Luffy and others in range. The body slumped over and fell with a splat on the deck. To in shock to move, the other marines watched as the clearly crazy man took the captain hat off the now deceased marine and placed it on top of his own hat.

"I am now the superior officer of this ship. As superior, I say we go to the marine base currently holding Roronoa Zoro. Any objections will be a sign of treason and the penalty for treason is death. So, are there any objections?"

Not one sound was heard out of anyone. They all cried as silently as possible.

"Good! I knew you were a smart bunch."

It was then Luffy turned to the other marine ship currently stationary beside them. It was an eyesore that could be dealt with easily. With a large grin present, Luffy activated his devil fruit. Bright red flames replaced his right hand, growing hotter at the second. This also caused the marines present to jump backwards in fear and awe.

 _This one is for you Ace._

Luffy reared back his cocked fist and sent an enormous fiery wave at the unsuspecting ship. His brother's iconic attack burned so hot it melted the steel on impact and vaporized the wood. The hit like an atomic bomb, the ones killed never even realized what occurred.

"Fire Fist!" The stream of fire continued for 10 seconds until he stopped the flow of fire.

Smoke and steam rose from the sea, consuming the last remnants of the marine ship. Everyone looked at the steaming part of the ocean until Luffy turned back around.

"Did I say to sit around with a thumb in your ass?"

The marines showed speed that could make Kizaru jealous. Rushing to their posts and turning the ship around in the direction of marine base. Luffy grinned and looked at the clouded sky.

"Shishishi! I'm doing it Ace! I'm going to be King of the fucking Pirates!"

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 **A/N:** What did you guys think? Should I continue? Comment and Follow.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** New chapter. Hope it doesn't disappoint. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Also, if you've read Twisted Strawhat, you know I like to reveal information over time. How Ace had his flare flare fruit before setting out to sea will be revealed soon. Also a lot of people want to know how Garp responded. That will also be revealed. Now on with the show.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

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 **Chapter 2: Zoro's Liberation**

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The stolen marine ship was currently moving at full speed, cruising through the ocean water with amazing efficiency. Luffy was actually starting to consider keeping this ship for good. These marines were pretty convenient to have around as well. They were so use to taking orders that this hostile takeover wasn't even really a huge change.

"Captain Luffy! We are five hours from contact with the target, sir!" The marine was even saluting when he gave the report. Almost made Luffy laugh.

"At ease Firmen." Yes, Luffy had decided to learn the names of the men on this ship. Nothing better to do. Firmen in particular had been a handy tool because of his willingness to change authority figures in an instant. Others had been slow to change, but complaint enough so that no one had to be killed yet. You know, Luffy was actually starting to enjoy these guys company. That could be a byproduct of not having human association for nine years, but honestly, they weren't so bad for two-faced marines.

"Hey, does anyone know if anything big is happening in the world?"

Everyone kinda looked at each other at once and started trying to fill Luffy in on everything that he had missed, amazed at the level ignorance he displayed. The talk actually lasted the next five hours until they reached the shore of the island. They had tried their best to fill the teen in on any big events that could have happened in the past 9 years. It was a lot of information but Luffy soaked it up like a sponge.

Once in range of the port, everyone ran to their docking stations with maximum efficiency: the sails were tied, engine turned off, anchor dropped, and gangway place down within a single minute. Then the marines ran down the plank, lined up on the dock in perfect formation, and saluted as Luffy walked down out of habit. The Straw Hat could almost laugh at the spectacle.

"At ease men! I will be back in a couple of hours, maybe even a day. Until then stay docked and await further orders!"

"Yes sir Commodore Luffy!" They then undid their salute in unison as Luffy continued to walk past and into town. The Straw Hat walked through town slowly, wondering if the Navy ship would still actually be there when he came back tomorrow. He didn't actually expect it to, in fact they were probably calling up another base for reinforcements. Psh, bring it on.

Looking around, Luffy noticed that everyone he passed by was acting as if this was the last day the sun would shine. Speaking of, dark clouds had engulfed every inch of the sky, matching the mood in this town perfectly. Something was clearly wrong, but Luffy couldn't tell exactly what was it that had the Earth in a state of mourning. As he walked deeper into this town, the Navy base came into view and more notably, an enormous stone statue in Axe Hand Morgan's likeness. Of course Luffy had no idea who the statue was of. He saw a group crowded around a particular brown haired women crying in the streets who appeared to be in actual pain. Many in the audience wept along with her.

Shrugging because it wasn't his problem, the human torch walked into what looked like a tavern that might sell drinks to get some info. Mostly to find out where this demon Pirate Hunter Zoro was and maybe where to get some new clothes too. The ones inside were no better than the other distraught souls, ripping garments in the streets. They too wore the mask of defeat. Luffy sat down on one of the bar stools.

"Um, excuse me? Do you sell food or drinks here?"

The bartender looked up with a pained and labored expression. He was a fairly large guy attired in simple holey, faded clothes that could be likened to those of a peasants. His face was not one that came to mine when someone thought male model. In fact it appeared as if he was wearing one of those gag mask with the large nose and shaggy black mustaches. If this wasn't an already depressing description, the bartender's face was dotted with warts that varied in size and shape most clustered near his eyes. Shaggy black locks topped the man's head, his hair appearing coarser than sandpaper.

"No drinks today son."

The voice sounded like a toad attempted to speak. Luffy adjusted his hat and murmured a soft 'thank you anyway'. This place nearly reminded Luffy of Dawn Island because of the atmosphere alone. He was about to ask the bartender what was going on, but was interrupted by three marines coming in and herding everyone like sheep outside. Once back into the fresh air it appeared that the massive crowed of townsfolk were being directed towards the base. Not particularly worried at the instant, Luffy went along willingly.

"Hurry, hurry. The execution of Roronoa Zoro starts in five minutes," spoke one of the marines helping in the mass movement. Many looked at this marine with a look of death. He oddly held a similar grim expression. What the hell was going on? Luffy now had some idea of what was going on but it didn't add up. Why would these people be so torn up about Zoro being executed? Even if the whole demon thing was a lie and he was really extremely friendly (which Luffy doubted), it still didn't explain why _everyone_ was in shambles.

They finally reached the open gates leading into the execution yard. Many pilled in and through at a sluggish pace as if they were the ones being murdered. Luffy skillfully shoved past bodies to get to the front, most were in fact happy to let someone be ahead of them. It was finally when he reached the front everything became clear.

Pirate Hunter Zoro was currently tied to a crucifix on display for all, bearing a grim display like everyone else. His eyes were shadowed beneath his haramaki, although tears were currently in full view, slowly streaming down each eye. Luffy subconsciously adjusted his hat again, completely disgusted at the marines display. He could already tell Zoro wasn't the type to cry for his own life by his aura. No, the one Zoro and everyone else present cried for was the little girl tied to a smaller crucifix adjacent to the swordsman.

There was five marines with rifles that would serve for the executioners and thirty other marines with swords, standing in the background behind a makeshift podium. At the podium was a large man that looked a lot like the statue on top of the Navy base. Luffy could already tell that this guy had a God complex. Looking back at the large assembly, the one eyed teen saw the women that everyone seemed to be consoling. Guessing that it was probably the girl's mother, Luffy saw the outline of a pistol handle sticking out of her dress pocket.

"Mommy! Mommy help me," the girl cried out, a river of tears complementing her plea. A collective moan went out over the crowd in despair. There wasn't a dry eye in the yard, including each marine as well. The sky also began to weep. Cold rain drops hit with the weight of boulders, instantly saturating the dusty ground and turning dirt into mud

Axe Hand Morgan walked up to the podium, a smaller teen looking guy following close behind. Luffy guessed it was the Captain's son, based on the blonde hair. Although that was the only similarity.

"Today we will be executing two criminals that tarnished the good name of my fort. The first, Roronoa Zoro, who deliberately went against my marines. This is an unforgivable act, truly worthy of death." There was a pause in speech in which the only audible sound was the patter of rain and cries of townsfolk. Morgan began again.

"The next criminal has committed a nearly more heinous deed. This evil, disgusting, child brought food and water to a convicted, death row criminal. She is truly what every parent dreads their offspring will become. Wickedness must be destroyed quickly before it has time to grow and eventually have children of its own."

Another drawn out dramatic pause. "The execution begins now."

The five marines with rifles, that would ultimately be executioners, lowered their weapons at Zoro. Luffy almost stepped in until Morgan added the last part.

"Kill the girl named Rika first."

The rain got heavier. Everyone's clothes were completely soaked through. The marines with rifles readied their weapons and glanced at one another, nodding in agreement. The message clear as crystal. Turning around in union, they took aim at Axe Hand Morgan.

"No! We won't be killing anyone today Morgan! This time you've gone too far! Killing a sweet, innocent girl? Have you lost your fucking mind," shouted the darker skin marine, which clearly was the leader of this revolt.

Oddly enough, the one that seemed the most angered was Captain Morgan himself, who had visibly turned scarlet red in the face and eyes were bloodshot to all hell. It even appeared that steam was coming off of his head, but this could have been Luffy's imagination.

"…You dare defy a **DIRECT ORDER!** "

Morgan looked them in the eye, making the marines visibly flinch at the sight.

" **Traitors!** You all must be executed!"

Morgan brought out a pistol from his jacket and shot the first of the executioners dead, then he re-aimed, shooting the second dead through the heart. The third one was able to avoid death, jumping out of the way and getting wounded in the shoulder. The fourth fired back, missing Morgan's head by an inch. The Captain fired at the fourth, missing the man's vital organs, but still seriously wounding him in the gut. Before Morgan could once again re-aim, the fifth executioner fired his rifle and got Morgan in the chest.

The Captain stumbled backwards and coughed out some blood, but instead of falling to his knees, he fired back, missing completely for the first time.

The fifth marine fired back again, hitting Morgan in the shoulder, although this still wasn't enough to drop Axe Hand. The Captain discarded his gun and ran forward, closing the distance quickly, jumping high into the air, and cutting the fifth marine in half with his axe. Blood exploded everywhere, covering the grounds in red.

This rather gory display only fueled the marines further. The third and still conscious executioner fired from his position on the ground, hitting Morgan in the leg. Before the Captain could retaliate, he was forced to block a bullet fired by the fourth aimed for his head with his axe. This once again gave the third marine time to shoot Morgan in his gut. This actually caused him to stop a little, but not for long. The adrenaline going through Morgan kept him going, but before he could close the gap between him and the third, the other marines with swords rushed forward with a battle cry.

Morgan backhand the first one with his axe hand, breaking his neck. The next one was slashed across the chest before getting to use his sword. The third and fourth executioners continued to rain bullets into Morgan's back, sending him to his knees and giving one of the other marines a chance to stab him through the chest. Another marine reared back his sword and took aim at Morgan's throat and would have ended it if not for a loud scream.

"STOOOPPP! Unless you want this girl to die you'll stop!"

Everyone turned around to see Axe Hand Morgan's son pointing a gun to Rika's head. This small distraction allowed Morgan to gain the upper hand on the marine currently impaling his stomach. He lifted his mighty axe high in the air and cut this marine in half as well. The marine with his sword next to Morgan's neck was cut down as well. If not for the constant down pour of rain, the ground would have been a literal pool of blood.

The Captain then turned around, jumped high into the air, and slammed his axe down on the third executioner, only going partially through his right shoulder. The fourth, despite his wounds, was able to scramble and move out the way of Morgan's fury, but before he could turn around, his back was torn open by the axe. With this done, he turned towards the crowd, causing many to grimace in fear.

"Traitors! Traitors are everywhere!"

Morgan reached down and grabbed a rifle from the ground. "Justice will _always_ prevail!"

He turned the gun on Rika, but before he could blow her away, the girl's mom ran forward while Morgan's back was turned, and fired her pistol at close range. The bullet ripped through his back, missing his heart by centimeters.

"Leave my daughter alone!"

The Captain slowly turned around, eyes completely red with anger but mostly pain. Amazingly his body had not gone into shock yet. He turned the rifle on the women and nearly shot her dead had it not been for Luffy appearing in front of the barrel and crushing it with his bare hands, causing it to explode upon firing. Then while disoriented by the explosion, Luffy punched through his gut and ignited the flare fruit. An enormous fire ball erupted inside Morgan, roasting him from the inside out.

Fire came out of Morgan's eyes, ears, mouth, and anus. The heat was so intense that it caused Rika's mother to stumble backwards, along with the rest of the crowd. Zoro even looked up to see the display, amazed and somewhat frightened. Captain Axe Hand Morgan's blood boiled and evaporated, along with everything else that was currently inside him. Then, with one final blast of heat, Morgan was completely turned to ash.

Everyone stared or gaped in shock at the one eyed boy. Luffy then leveled a glare at Helmeppo, causing him drop the gun, shit himself, and pass out with his eyes rolled in the back of his head. The Straw Hat then walked forward, and slowly tried to untie Rika's bounds before getting frustrated with the ropes, and instead carefully burning them off with a concentrated flame. Before the ropes could fall to the ground Rika dashed forward, nearly tripping in a puddle, and leaped into her mother's arms.

This act brought everyone back from their awe induced stupor, they rushed towards Rika and her mother, crying in joy. Some of the other townsfolk rushed towards the brave marines that had fought Morgan and began treating them. Luffy meanwhile burned off Zoro's ropes with some difficulty because of the excessive amount of rain. The swordsman and Luffy made eye contact for a second before the Straw Hat broke eye contact and walked towards the third and fourth executioners, who were surprisingly still alive.

"Move."

The ones crowded around them shifted instantly at the tone in his voice. He knelt down beside the two men bleeding out. Activating his flare flare fruit, Luffy pressed two hands on the third's right shoulder and the fourth's ripped open back. Immediately they howled out in pain, however no one attempted to stop the raven. Anyone with any knowledge knew that he was cauterizing their wounds to stop the heavy bleeding, it was their best bet for surviving.

After finishing thoroughly, Luffy stood and walked off the grounds, the crowd parting as he walked away. But just before crossing the gates, a little tug on his pants stopped his progress. Turning back around, the teen saw Rika looking up at him, still wiping tears away from her eyes.

"T-Thank you sir."

This small act brought something up within Luffy he thought was long gone. It felt…warm. Despite the rain and over all coldness that permeated Luffy's soul, a small hearth deep inside him was kindled yet again. He couldn't really explain it, but then again, he didn't really want to.

"You're welcome," he replied with a small, nearly nonexistent smile. Then Luffy stood again and walked away from the small yet very captive audience.

* * *

Luffy had been sitting in an tavern for over two hours, waiting for someone to come back so he could rent a room. Sadly everyone was gathered around the local clinic, either tending the wounded or waiting for results of the wounded. When the door squeaked open, Luffy turned and saw Zoro walk in and sit next to him on the adjacent stool. It was a full two minutes of silence before either spoke a word.

"So…um, thanks for saving mine and the girls life. I can still continue my dream and promise. So, thank you."

Luffy turned around and looked him dead in the eyes. No flinching or grimacing was seen or hinted at by the green haired man.

"Happy to help," Luffy finally murmured, turning away to stare at a painting of a boat. Zoro rubbed his neck a bit and spoke up again.

"Listen, I'm a man of honor and I can't just ignore the fact you saved me. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Luffy raised an eye brow. "I'm forming a pirate crew and would be glad to have you."

Another silence. No eye contact or movement, Zoro in deep thought. In fact, a full hour past before anything happened again and it wasn't either man talking. It was the odd tavern owner walking in, back to close up shop for the day, as it had been a very exhausting one. However, when he saw the hero of the town sitting on one of the bar stools, any thought of closing went sailing.

"It's you my boy," exclaimed the man, patting Luffy on the shoulder as he walked past and went behind the bar, already filling a two glasses of booze from the tap. With much gusto, he slammed the glasses down in front of the men before him.

"Hehehehe, Hahahaha, drink up my boy! On the house! Hahahaha!" Luffy's one eye widened at the display, not exactly sure how to respond. He had only drank alcohol once and that was sake shared among his brothers. Although Shanks sure had hyped it up.

"Um, thank you old man," spoke Luffy, reaching for a mug, Zoro also picked up his glass and toasted Luffy with a grin. Luffy smirked and toasted back.

"To my new captain."

"To a new crewmate."

The teen downed the liquid with his new mate and was half way through his pint before realizing what they had toasted to.

"W-wait. New captain?" Zoro looked down with a smaller and more serious smile.

"I figure it's only fair, but on one condition. You don't interfere with my dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman."

Luffy nodded. "I'll be Pirate King one day. I couldn't afford to have any less."

Zoro gave his mug to the tavern keeper for a refill. "Then it's settled." Immediately after being refilled, the mug was once again between Zoro's lips. Luffy realized something was amiss in this whole picture. Something he should have noticed earlier.

"Where's your sword?" Zoro looked up from his drinking.

"That blonde idiot took them. They're somewhere inside that fort."

As if on que, five marines walked in, most notably the one with an enormous bandage wrapped around his entire right side walking in front. What was also notably was that one of the marines hanging back had the Wando Ichimonji.

"Give it to him," commanded the dark skinned man in front. It really was a surprise he was even moving around, what with Morgan's Axe going so deep in his shoulder it punctured a lung. The lesser marine walked forward and handed Zoro his prized possession with care, two other marines walked forward and placed the two other blades on the counter.

The marines then got on their knees in and bowed. Luffy raised his eye brow at the display. He knew that he saved these guys and everything but that didn't explain this. Marines usually didn't bow to normal citizens. At least he didn't think so.

"Commodore Luffy, thank God you showed up when you did. May your Navy Branch be blessed. Is there anything we can do for you?"

Luffy realized that someone must have saw that marine ship he stole and the marines on board vouched for him. Damn, that's actually some serious loyalty on their part. Hmm, maybe they weren't so bad. Eh, might as well milk this cow as much as possible. Zoro was giving him a questioning look, but Luffy tried to pass off a 'we'll take later' look. Surprisingly it worked.

"Well, as Commodore Monkey D. Luffy," spoke Luffy in an official voice, pausing to pull out the marine captain hat and placed it over his own straw hat, "I need some new cloths."

* * *

 **A/N:** What did you think? Next chapter there are some big changes. BIG CHANGES!

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	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** New chapter. Don't read if your heart isn't prepared. Also, when I said no happy beginnings I meant it.

 **Sir Godot: There will be a expanded crew. Haven't decided if I should leave any out yet.**

 **blackfirekingkoncor: Not completely far off from where this fic is headed.**

 **Xerzo LotCN: You're going to love the ending to the East Blue Arc. Very funny punchline I have lined up.**

 **Orchamus: Glad my humor didn't fall flat. Also, the buster call went to the wrong island, but that doesn't mean someone didn't cause the signal to come from the wrong place...**

 **Z-Breezy: No. Well at least not for the foreseeable future.**

 **Forzarismo: Thank you for the kind words. I think you'll like this chapter a lot.**

 **pipi69: You're about to find out**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Coordinates 45-6-9-21-7**

* * *

Luffy and Zoro boarded the Navy vessel waiting to leave, each one carrying bags of supplies and clothes that were quickly handed off to the marines to be taken to their rooms. Luffy was wearing black undershirt, blue knee length shorts, brown laced boots, and a customized navy jacket that had flames sewn into the bottom edges, yet still having the word 'justice' along the back. That was really more of a personal joke because the brand of justice he was going to unleash would be very different than the Navy's. Zoro had on his usual attire.

"Okay men, let's move out!"

"Yes sir," shouted the men in unison. The gangway was pulled in, anchor raised, sails opened, all done in less than two minutes. The entire town had come out to see them off, each marine saluting, and each citizen waving. Before leaving however, Luffy decided to put on one more show.

"Fire…" The teen took aim at the large blemish still towering above Shells Town. "Fist!"

A large column of fire shot out from Luffy's fist, shooting over the entire town in spectacular fashion, finally hitting its target and evaporating Morgan's large statue into nothing. If the crowd wasn't cheering then, they certainly were now, praising the very ground he stood on. The Straw Hat turned to his current crew, which consisted of 50 kidnapped marines and a sleeping Zoro. Not a bad start.

The ship slowly picked up speed and Shells Town was just a blip on the horizon in no time. Luffy was about to sit down on a barrel before Firmen rushed over, saluted, and then asked a pressing question.

"Sir! To what location are we headed?"

Luffy rubbed his chin a bit in thought. That was until he remembered something one of the marines had told him during their fill in.

"Zoro!" The swordsman opened one eye in question.

"What's up?"

"You up for the toughest fight you've ever had?" Zoro smirked and gripped the handle of Wando.

"Always." Luffy smirked as well and subconsciously touched the brim of his hat.

"Jackson!" A tan marine with the sleeves cut off his marine shirt and a blue bandana tied around his neck, sitting on top of the mast, looked down and asked what was wrong.

"What island did you say a pirate fishman docked on," asked Luffy, his next island already in mind.

"The Conomi Islands! Cocoyashi Village to be exact, however, no one has been able to help out because they are too strong to challenge.

 _Looks like it's their lucky day._ "Maybe it is time that changed. What do you say men? Do you think we can take down the big kahuna of the East Blue pirate scene?"

A loud cheer erupted from the marines. Some actually started high fiving and running around with no outlet to put their energy into. Guess this would be every low level marines dream. To help takeout a former Grand Line pirate.

"Yo Zoro. Get your lazy ass up and teach some of these guys to properly hold a sword. Everyone get out your weapons and get to deck!"

Multiple pairs of boots were heard running down to the lower level where weapons were stored. Most (30) had swords, while the overs were totting pistols, rifles, and other assorted weapons. Firmen had dual pistols and dual karambit knives on his belt, left blade being a rose red and right an ice blue tint. Jackson also had a specialty weapon in the form of a large sledgehammer object, although it looked more like an almost rectangular rock that wasn't carved completely placed on a 5 foot long stick. Hey, whatever works.

Zoro went through the ranks, having to adjust the stance and grip of most. One guy was actually holding is sword by the blade. After a few minutes of minor fixes, the training was ready to begin.

"Okay," started Zoro, "let's start with a simple downward slash," spoke Zoro, drawing his Wando. He demonstrated the move perfectly and waited for the marines to do the same. The failure was more than spectacular. Most couldn't seem to swing exactly straight, while others tripped on the way down. Needless to say, Zoro had his work cut out for him.

While this travesty of swordsmanship happened, Luffy worked with the others. During this rather disheartening training session, the Straw Hat captain noticed that Firman and Jackson were actually quite quick with a blade or really any weapon. Both shot better than any of the East Blue marines that specialized in rifles.

"Firmen, Jackson. Can you come over here?"

The two exchanged a looked and walked over to Luffy, each saluting.

"Can you two explain why you're both far above the others?" It was Jackson that responded first for a change.

"Well you see sir, me and Firmen are transfers from the Grand Line. We've only been to the East Blue for 6 months. Neither I nor Firmen however, made a rank higher than private first class. Apparently, the Navy in the East Blue was lacking, so a few Grand Line privates were sent to each Navy branch."

Luffy nodded in understanding. Of course these men would be more experienced in that case. They could also be very useful later.

"Hey, you guys wouldn't mine teaching the others a thing or two about shooting a rifle would ya?"

"Will do captain."

The two went over and started providing sound guidance to shockingly incompetent East Blue marines. One had even been holding his weapon upside down. Luffy shook his head and went back over to Zoro, who was leaning against the railing of the large Navy vessel.

"They learn anything?" Zoro breathed out a sigh in frustration and rubbed his green hair.

"Uh…I finally got them to swing straight."

Looking over, all thirty sword totting marines were swinging downward in something close to unison. Impressive considering what they had been doing just a few minutes ago. Their stamina would need work however, as many were already struggling to breath and sweating profusely. Most were about stop until Luffy gave some extra incentive to keep going.

"Whoever stops first has to fight me!"

Talk about renewed strength. The marines awakened power they never knew existed, all signs of fatigue gone. Some even picked up the pace, downward striking ever two seconds with fear filled gusto. Zoro's eyes widened at this, wondering what made the marines so scared of Luffy. All the captain had said was that he stole a Navy ship, but now the swordsman realized that most likely wasn't the whole truth.

Zoro went over to a rifle totting marine and asked him bring out some weights. The man nodded and went down to the lower levels. After few minutes, that man called for some assistance. Then those two called for assistance. Soon, six men were attempting to lift this box of weights upstairs, grunting with extreme effort.

Finally, after thirty minutes of work, the six brought it up and laid the container it in front of Zoro, who had had fallen asleep.

"Sir!"

The moss haired man woke with a start and lifted his gaze to the tired marines.

"We have brought the weights sir," shouted the young boy in front named Chars, saluting with the other six marines. He couldn't have been more than eighteen years old.

"Good, now start lifting." The teen exchanged a look at his buddies.

"What?"

"I want to see how strong you guys are right now, so get to lifting." Not ones to disobey orders, or argue with a really scary swordsman, the marines began. However in their weary state, most could pick up no more than 25 pounds. Zoro shook his head in disappointment, almost disgusted.

"Pathetic."

The swordsman then picked up three hundred pound dumbbells in each arm and started pumping iron. Many who were witness dropped their jaws in shock that a human could accomplish such a thing. They didn't consider Luffy human, so nothing the captain did shocked them as much.

Speaking of, Luffy was setting up sparing matches to gauge everyone's strength. But to kill two birds with one stone, he set the matches up into teams of three to gauge the teamwork as well.

"Oi, you guys can rest now," spoke Luffy to the thirty sword totting marines, still practicing their downward strike. At the sound of the word "rest", multiple men fell to the floor in a near stroke. Air seemed like a rare commodity, considering none of the men seemed to be able to get any in their dry, swollen, and nearly closed over lungs. None were able to hold their swords for a single more second, causing a loud clattering sound when each one fell to the deck floor.

After this scene, Luffy looked around to see that most of the marines were very tired, even the ones not part of the swordsmen marines.

"Ok, everybody take five. Maybe ten."

The fifty marines all started stretching, catching their breath, and going to get something to drink from the kitchen. What Luffy didn't see was anyone start cooking in the kitchen, which he found rather odd. Everyone, including himself, was at the least craving something to eat and at the most completely famished. Any reasonable cook would have read the room and put something on the pot. Maybe they were waiting for orders?

"Um, whoever the cook of this ship is, could you start preparing lunch?"

Firmen responded quickly, running up to his captain. "The two cooks on this vessel died before you took command sir. Died of dysentery. In all the excitement we forgot to mention it. So sorry."

Luffy sat on a barrel and pondered for a second. This wouldn't do at all, there had to be a solution. Zoro walked over to Luffy, scratching the back of his head.

"Oi, maybe there is an island or sea restaurant somewhere?"

"Psh, I believe island, but sea restaurant? There is no way something like that exist. Not around here anyway."

Before anymore could be said, someone on lookout screamed that there was a ship wreaked victim in the distance. Everyone on deck look to Luffy for orders. _Well, not like were in any particular hurry._

"Steer the ship starboard and go save him/her!"

As the ship came closer to the cast away, they immediately noticed that the boy was young. No older than 15. Once they pulled in next to him, Jackson descended on a rope and took the child in his arms, then proceed to be pulled back up by Zoro. The child was laid down gently. Once on deck, Luffy discerned that he had seen this kid before. Pink hair was a pretty rare trait, especially for a male.

The marines crowed around the child and stared intently. His clothes were ripped to shreds, clearly had been in the sun to long, multiple cuts and bruises, and smelled horrendous. Everyone recoiled at the sent, except for Luffy and Zoro, who were staring rather indifferently.

"Take him to the infirmary."

Three marines walked over, hoisted the boy up, and walked down to the third level. Luffy rubbed his face and told the crew to drop anchor for now. Then he called Zoro, Firmen, and Jackson over.

"Hey guys, you feel that?"

Zoro look at Firmen, Firmen looked at Jackson, and Jackson looked at Zoro. Then in perfect unison, with eyebrows raised and heads cocked to the side, replying:

"Eh?"

Luffy scratched his head, looking for an explanation. "You know that feeling you get, when there is something dangerous in the area and you just kind of feel it. Come on, you guys know."

To some extent they did. Everyone alive has felt that at some point, but the way Luffy spoke almost made it seem like a 6th sense. Weird. But all this talk was starting to get to the men. Zoro even subconscious touched Wando's hilt.

"What are you getting at Luffy," asked Zoro, who was now looking behind his back. Firmen and Jackson were doing the same, looking at each flank.

"I'm not entirely sure…"

"Purupurupuru!"

"AAAHHHHH!" Zoro, Firmen, and Jackson fell on the ground in surprise at the sudden noise, desperately trying to reach their weapons. In an instant Wando was being brandished with flare, two karambit knives were flashing in the sun, and a sledgehammer was swung around with vigor. Luffy walked past the shaken men to find out where the sound was coming from.

"Purupurupuru!"

Looking around, Luffy noticed a small compartment in the side of the mast. He walked over and pulled a small knob, flipping out a flap and reviling a ringing Den Den Mushi. Interested in the device, the captain picked up the handset. Immediately afterward, an official voice began broadcasting to the ship.

" _Pirate Commodore Don Krieg has been spotted in the vicinity of 45-6-9-21-7! Multiple civilian causalities expected. If single vessel, do not engage! Repeat, do not engage! Approximately 30 through 50 ships spotted. Repeat: DO NOT ENGAGE! Navy Branch 16, 8, 77, 83, and 6 have been diploid! Do not engage if in the vicinity! Repeat: DO NOT ENGAGE!"_

The line went silent. When Luffy looked up, all of the marines were on deck with weapons in hand. Looking at them, it was clear they wanted to help in this battle between an apparent pirate commodore and most of the East Blues marine force.

"You guys want to fight this Krieg guy?"

Everyone nodded bravely, ready to prove themselves in battle. Zoro stood with a small smirk along with Firmen and Jackson. Arlong could wait awhile.

"Well I say we engage then."

A cheer with up from the marines. Some even started high fiving with each other. Before Luffy, the chances of them ever seeing actual combat was slim to zero. Now look at them, about to battle one of the most notorious pirates in the East Blue. This would also usually be a time for alarm, but this new captain gave them confidence. The confidence that maybe victory could be attained and justice would prevail.

Everyone rushed to their stations. Their navigator went upstairs to steer the ship in the new direction, the mast were open to full, and engines were at max power. Luffy noticed that they were still headed in the same direction and asked what was up.

"Sir," shouted the young recruit called Chars, "We were already in route to target sir. In fact, this location is relativity close to Arlong Park."

"What is this place? Island? Reef?"

"No sir. Based on the coordinates, it looks like the battle is taking place at the sea restaurant Baratie."

"Thank you Chars." The kid nodded and ran off to help haul weapons from the storage to the deck. Zoro appeared behind Luffy, shit eating grin and all.

"So, who was the one that suggested a sea restaurant again? I cannot seem to recall."

"…"

"And who was the joker that said they didn't exist? Darn, my memory today is just terrible. Hey captain, do you remember?"

Luffy rubbed his face in frustration, anger, and slight embarrassment. "Let it go Zoro."

The swordsman instead cupped his ear like he was trying to listen better. "What was that? Did I hear an 'I was right'? Is that what I heard?"

The Straw Hat groaned a walked away, Zoro laughing in the background.

Sanji was currently in the fight of his life.

No matter how many men he struck down, ten more took their place. Some had guns, while others wielded swords. Many cuts adorned Sanji's body, along with bullet grazes and full on bullet wounds. There were just so many men. Most shooting from the relative safety of their ships, while others got in close with melee weapons and pistols. Sanji's legs were currently on full display, with large black bruises with blood oozing from each pore, bone showing in some places. His pant legs were ripped at the hip, shoes barely even present anymore.

The combat had taken its toll sure, but what did it was the constant need to deflect cannon balls from the Baratie. At first it had been doable, because Krieg was using regular iron cannon balls. They had been easy to kick away and launch back at the enemy ships. But then came the impact balls that exploded on contact. When the cook had tried to deflect one the first time, the explosion nearly killed him. The worst part had been that both impact and regular cannon balls looked exactly the same, so it was just a gamble when deflecting a cannon ball whether it would explode or not. After 50 cannon balls and 27 explosive balls, his legs were basically fucked.

And even with his vigilance, the Baratie looked like Swiss cheese. It was actually incredible that the Baratie was still floating and not entirely destroyed. The restaurant was completely surround by the more than 50 ships, of which Sanji had destroyed three. Barely even a shitty dent.

Looking to his side, the blonde saw a bullet riddled Patty attempted to reload the Meat Ball of Doom cannon he was so proud of. But once he finished, the cook could no longer lift the bazooka off the deck no matter how much effort was exerted. Patty blinked through tears, pain searing at his nerves. Coughing harshly brought up large clumps of blood, which added to the already large puddle of blood coating the fins of the Baratie. Glancing through hazy, unfocused vision, the cook saw Carne's headless body slumped over in a pool of chunky red soup. Early in the fighting, a cannon ball blew his cranium and upper torso to a red mist.

" **RRRAAAGGG!** " Patty lifted the bazooka for one last attack. In the process, dozens of pirates fired at him, completely ripping his torso and face apart. No longer possessing the strength to even utter the name of his special attack, the cook simply pulled the trigger and closed his eyes eternally. His attack backfired, seeing that the bazooka boasted a hairline crack from deflecting bullet fire. The weapon exploded, charring and twisting Patty's corpse.

Sanji didn't have time to morn, or even acknowledge that increase to the death toll. He was currently in the process of being surrounded by thirty vicious pirates, dodging and ducking each saber swing. This usually wouldn't be a huge strain, but as stated, his legs were fucked and the fighting had been taking place for more than three hours.

"Party Table Kick Course!"

For the 108th time that day, he spun on his hands, kicking each man in the face. Once back up again, Sanji had a moment where no one was trying to end him. Looking around, nearly all the cooks had fled or died in battle. A fate Sanji expected of himself at the moment.

Zeff was currently fighting as well, kicking with the force of a train. But with each kick, some power was lost behind it. Some energy was draining.

The ex-pirate had at least five gunshot wounds in his chest. A slash from a swordsman put a large cut across his left eye and took some of his nose. Half of the rope mustache Zeff had been so proud of was gone. However, he fought on.

Twenty pirates ganged up around the wounded man, each slashing at his flesh like animals. Zeff's back was torn open like paper before he had a chance to evade. Using what power he had left, the head chief jumped high into the air and landed with a hard drop kick to the fins. The shock wave created blew back the crowd of pirates like ragdolls.

"He…he. Cheeky brats thing I'll die t-that easily," huffed out Zeff. Then out of no were, a large iron orb hit Zeff on the crown of his head, busting it at the seams. The old pirate still did not fall however, jumping backwards to face this new foe. Blood bubbling from his scalp trickled down to his eyes, obscuring vision to a pinkish veil. This pirate was clearly different, sporting tonfas instead of a regular sword or gun. He had a grey jacket with a red dragon, dark rings around his eyes, and short spikey hair. With a mere flick of the wrist, the left tonfa was sent into a spin.

"Time to die old man. Captain's orders and all."

Zeff grinned despite it all. "Bring it on brat. I've got over twenty years of ass kicking under my belt."

From a distance, Sanji saw this encounter happening and ran to help. All the cooks may be dead, the Baratie may be on the verge of sinking, he may even die, but as long as Zeff survived he wouldn't be a completely worthless failure. However, someone intended to stop that from happening.

A swift moving pearl-studded iron plate crashed into Sanji's head, nearly knocking it off. The downward strike hit with such force that when his head connected with the deck, it busted a hole right through it.

"Oh I'm sorry, were you going somewhere."

Amazingly, Sanji lifted his out the hole; a feat comparably to mankind landing on the moon. Like Zeff, his head was bleeding profusely and was somewhat dented. Through willpower and sheer willpower alone, he rose to his feet on shaking hands. This action was met with a pearl-embedded slam to the back, actually sending him through the wood this time and into the water. When floating up, Sanji was face down in the water.

"Hehe, another one falls to my might." Pearl turned and begin to walk off. By doing this though, Pearl missed the face of death lifting out the sea water. Sanji damn near kicked off air as he jetted towards Pearl, leg pulled back for a death strike to his back.

"Mutton Shot!"

Sanji's foot hit Pearl directly in between his shoulder blades, one of the only non-protected spots. The force nearly knocked the Krieg pirate's shoulders out of alinement, broke the collar bone, and turned three top vertebrates to dust. Pearl flew forward at an incredible velocity, clearing the fins and crashing through a random Krieg ship in an explosion of wooden splinters.

Sanji didn't revel in his victory however, immediately looking for the fight with Zeff and Kreig's right hand man. The fight was surprisingly still going.

Zeff did a quick roundhouse to a low swipe, but Gin jumped out the way in time. He swung his tonfa at Zeff's face, but it was blocked by a right arm, which broke in the process. The ex-pirate jumped back again, going into a coughing fit and muttering 'damn brat'.

Former Red Foot tried a quick kick with his peg leg, but was blocked with the round tonfa end. Then with lighting quickness, Gin slammed his other tonfa into the artificial leg, shattering it pieces. This attack cause Zeff to lose balance for a second, which gave Gin a perfect opening for an upward tonfa strike to Zeff's chin. The chief fell to the ground with a broken jaw and nearly collapsed windpipe.

Sanji sprinted forward, time moving in slow motion as Gin pulled out a sawed off shotgun and leveled it at Zeff's head. But then as Gin pulled the trigger, without turning around, he lifted the Gun to the side and shot Sanji dead center of the chest. When it only slowed his sprint, Gin fired again into Sanji's chest.

The cook however kept moving, half conscious and barely still alive. Gradually his pace slowed to a walk, then no movement at all. Blood completely soaking his skin and clothes, eyes nearly glazed over. His body going in and out of shock, wreaking various amounts of pain through his body. Sanji and Zeff make eye contact, neither able to speak because of their injuries.

" _Sanji"_

" _Yea geezer?"_

" _I just wanted to say I'm glad I saved that day."_

" _Zef-"_

" _Follow your dreams boy. Find the All Blue for me."_

 _Sanji stares at him in befuddlement, but cannot reply because the Krieg Pirates had started to board the fins._

"G-Go-o-d bye, Ze-ef," chokes out Sanji through a mouthful of blood. Zeff wheezes, trying to pass air through his swelling throat.

"Good *cough* by-e, S-S-Sanji." A single tear trickles down Zeff's cheek. Gin, seeing that the final exchange between them is over, lowers his gun and pulls the trigger, blowing an apple sized hole in Zeff's head.

The very next second, a barrage of explosive cannon balls hits the Baratie, blowing the restaurant into splinters and rocking the sea. The only thing Sanji has yet to lose is his life now. But just as Gin raises his shotgun, someone from a ship yells:

"Marines!"

"Marines are here!"

Gin looks Sanji dead in the eyes and jumps off the platform, disappearing into the smoke. Tears and blood mix on Sanji's face. He may still be alive, but he actually has nothing. The sea cooks dead bodies strewn throughout the slowly sinking platform seem to scream out to Sanji in anger. At his failure.

With nothing left to do or see, Sanji closes his eyes and waits for the end.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm a monster. But what do you guys think of some of the marines? Do you like the interaction?

So many changes! Follow, Favorite, Review.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** : I'm back. Finals are finally done and I can write once more. Now I know a lot of you guys are going to be pissed I didn't update A Twisted Strawhat first. It's been more than a month since I've updated it, but trust me, chapter 17 is coming soon. In the meantime, I hope this chapter can grant you some happiness.

Oh, I need to set something straight. Luffy can use Observation Haki, Armament Haki and Kings Haki, but doesn't understand that they are special abilities. Right now, he is actually under the impression that everyone can sense other life forms and stuff. Also, he can use Rokushiki techniques because he tricked Garp into showing them to him. I'll talk more about that later though in the flashback chapter. Also, Luffy's marine jacket looks like the 4th Hokage's in Naruto if you didn't see the connection there.

 **patrickdejong** **94: Maybe…**

 **Johnny Spectre: All I will say is that they will meet Buggy in a different way and much later on in the East Blue Arcs. Also, the Nami meeting will be different.**

 **jamestheghost19: The marines actually know Luffy is a pirate, but since he hasn't really done any pirate activities, they just don't up rise. Also they know they cannot capture him even if they wanted to.**

 **NeoZero13: You will see…**

 **M0rme: Thank you so much for being a loyal reader. I'll take that warning to heart. Also I'm glad you liked Luffy and Zoro training the marines. I didn't want it to seem to forced or choppy.**

One last thing. Some of you might have read the part where it says that Krieg has 3000-5000 ships. Thank god **Dissenter** (thanks again by the way) caught that slip up. So right now just to be clear, Krieg has 47 ships because Sanji was able to sink three of them. Okay, on with the show.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: End of a Fleet**

* * *

Luffy looked out over the waters towards Krieg's 50 ship fleet with an indifferent expression. All those ships nearly triggered him, just thinking back to the Buster Call. Without realizing it, he activated his devil fruit and nearly burnt a hole through the deck. Zoro looked over to him in concern.

"Oi Luffy, you okay?"

"Never better," answered Luffy curtly, shaking off the discomfort. He turned around and addressed his crew of 50 men.

"Today we are going to destroy a supposed Don. Let me make it clear that he is not a Don, but scum that has risen higher than normal scum usually does. There is no reason to fear him or anyone like him. The only scary motherfucker in this sea is _me_. Understood?"

Somehow that had pumped up the marines even more than they already were. "Yes sir!"

"Good. Jackson, stay behind the other groups when advancing with the gun men and give suppressing fire. Firmen and Zoro, you each get fifteen swordsmen to lead. Zoro take left, Firmen go right. As for me, I'll give us an opening to get in close and board, then provide cover fire."

The three leaders nodded and started grouping people for their team. It was mostly random considering everyone had basically the same level of skill. However, Zoro specifically asked for Chars to be on his team of fifteen. It wasn't for any particular reason, he was just the only face he could actually place a name on. Firmen walked over to Jackson.

"Be careful mate and keep your eyes open."

"Same to you."

Then the two friends departed and went to their teams. Luffy looked to each of the team leaders and got a nod in response from each one. They were ready. The captain smirked and ignited his flames.

"Going through head on is reckless unless we even out the numbers first," spoke Luffy coolly, "this is where I come in." His jacket blows in the now strong breeze, both hands becoming brighter than the sun. The sheer heat forces everyone to stand back. Captain Luffy then cups both hands together and pours in more and more power, until an extremely condensed ball of fire forms and continues to grow. Once it is the size of a softball, Luffy lifted the thing over his head with his right hand. It is now that some realize it is spinning.

It is the size of a beach ball when visibility goes down to zero on the deck, along with any knowledge of what cold feels like. The heat is unbearable to the point some of the marines hide behind the mast. No one goes to the lower levels though because there is still the fact that this display of power looks awesome. Once it was four times the size of a beach ball, it could be seen spinning clearly now, sparks and ashes coming off. After a full minute, the inferno stopped growing. It now appeared as if Luffy was putting all his power in twisting the object faster and faster. Slowly a blue ring formed around the pure white ball of energy, signifying the end of the attacks preparations.

Using Haki, Luffy contained all the heat inside the ball, gradually relieving his men of the ungodly temperature. Everyone looked up in marvel at the object, each thinking it looked somewhat like the plant Saturn. Zoro smirked, a fire lit in his own eyes.

 _My captain is strong. Stronger than I previously thought._

Luffy turned towards Krieg's measly fleet of 47 ships and almost laughed. "Planetary…"

The sphere slowly lifted higher in the air, though it was still controlled by Luffy perfectly. "… Flame…"

He then changed the flow of his Haki, turning the perfectly circular disk into a jagged pattern. Then rearing back, Luffy launched the well-practiced attack with all his might. "Shuriken!"

All of the marines ran to the railing and watched the attack soar through the air majestically. It doesn't hit the first ship so much as it evaporates the vessel into smoke, along with anyone aboard. The second ship goes much the same way, as does the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. It isn't until the seventh ship that any actual burning happens. Not until the twentieth ship does Luffy's Planetary Flame Shuriken began to lose form and break down. On the twenty-first ship, it explodes. Shards of wood are thrown at bullet speeds, entire ships near the explosion are thrown. Everything is engulfed in Luffy's fiery vengeance, taking out ten more ships.

The explosion was increased by the fact that some of the ships had explosive cannon balls. Even though the Navy ship was still a ways off, the hot winds and debris were felt easily. Luffy, who was analyzing the entire scene, moved at untraceable speeds next to a random marine in Zoro's group and pushed his head down. Not even a second later, a large splinter of metal flew past the marine's head use to be and impaled the mast.

"Careful mate…"

Only the ones who had actually seen the splinter were Zoro, Firmen, and Jackson. No real surprise there. But they had only glimpse a grey blur, and were nowhere near Luffy's level of speed and precision to actually know where it was headed or what it would hit. This also showed that Luffy was truly looking out for the men, despite the fact he didn't really know them.

The captain actually had no idea the level of loyalty this one act would grant him. The crowd was still in awe by the time the ship was immersed in a cloud of smoke as the ship got closer to Krieg's fleet of now 10 ships. Visibility went down to nearly zero in a second. Many started to cough and cover their faces from the invasive gas. Once deep enough in the wreckage, visibility returned thanks to all the fire. A plus considering said wreckage was also preventing the Navy vessel from going any farther.

"Okay men, the time is now! Go, go! And know that I'll be watching your back, so there is nothing to fear!"

" **Yaaaaaaaaa** ," screamed the marines with a passion, swords raised in the name of justice. Making haste and using the surprise attack to their advantage, each team leader began throwing out commands. After a few seconds of confusion, the men began a successful storming of Krieg's not so grand fleet. Zoro's group went first leaping off the railing and landing on a floating platform, heading left towards the Baratie remains. Firmen went next, leaping off the railing and going left towards Krieg's flag ships. Jackson's group went last, heading straight forward so as to have an equal chance of giving support to which ever group may need it. Luffy stayed behind, ready to act if need be.

Meanwhile Zoro group were jumping from platform to platform, fire surrounding them on either side, smoke stinging their eyes. Occasionally they would jump past a dead or dying pirate floating in the water, impaled with bits of shrapnel and wood. There was no time to help these men, as right now they should be looking for civilians. The Strawhat pirate currently had Wando out just in case they were met with any opposition, through there wasn't any so far.

The pace was pretty slow going. It wasn't like the marines were as physically capable as Zoro, who was able to leap from each piece of wreckage in one bound, whereas the normal men following took several steps at a time to transverse one platform. It was all they could do to not fall into the sea water on each jump. It was two minutes of travel through the remains before they made it to a ship that wasn't destroyed. Zoro looked back at his group.

"Get ready everyone," yelled the green haired man. Everyone drew their swords from its sheath and followed Zoro when he jumped 15 feet vertically and landed on the deck of the ship. The marines had to lightly parkour, cat hang, and then pull up onto the ship. They were just in time to see Zoro parry a parallel sword swing, pivot around the enemy pirate, and slam the hilt of Wando into his attacker's neck.

 _So cooool!_

"Oi, get up hear and help," yelled Zoro to the marines, slicing an attacker behind himself without even looking, with one flick of the wrist. Chars scrambled up with the other men, eyes gleaming with excitement and awe. They immediately began to attack the six still active pirates on the ship with a barrage of downward strikes, completely over powering them within thirty seconds. After another additional minute, those pirates were tied up. Then on to the next ship, repeating the same process. It wasn't until the third ship that they actually began to encounter heavier resistance.

Most of the pirates however were still unarmed and completely unprepared for any sort of attack though. The hardest part of this ambush was the movement from one ship to another. More than once, someone would fall into the sea while leaping to a new platform and Zoro or another comrade would be forced to fish them out. Also the visibility and smoke were still a challenging issue, along with the fact there was still explosions and such happening in the area because of gunpowder barrels catching fire. Which brings up the last obstacle of heat.

It felt like being within an inferno at full power. Hell would also be a fitting description of the ship graveyard environment. Of course this wasn't really bothering Zoro all that much, not after being tied to a post for over 5 days, but everyone else was hemorrhaging stamina and sweat. The swordsman turned around once he noticed that the already slow pace was slowing further.

"Come on guys, move a little faster."

Most of the marines were leaning against their swords in exhaustion, while others were being supported by less tired men. The stuffy white cotton uniforms weren't helping in the least. Even Chars, with all his unending enthusiasm with being a productive marine, was huffing instead of breathing. The group of 15 men was actually fragmented over multiple floating platforms. One group of three was still on the last ship they cleared, slumped over in heat stroke.

"W-we're…t-t-trying…t-to go a-a-as fa _ssst_ …as p-p-possible," wheezed out Chars, falling over slowly, but then snapping back up in a salute. "Sir!"

Zoro sighed and thought for a second, coming up with a brilliant plan. "I guess I'll have to tell Luffy that you guys weren't-"

Before even being able to finish that sentence, all fifteen men were already ahead of him and attacking the 4th ship and taking dozen of more prisoners. Zoro smiled and ran to catch up.

Meanwhile Firmen was facing much heavier resistance than team Zoro, requiring the assistance of Jackson group just to gain any sort of ground in the less than advantageous environment. They were attempting to gain ground on the flag ship that was currently attempting to retreat, but the 5 ships in between along with tons of debris in the way was a problem. The two groups were stationed behind a half sunken ship, planning and returning fire.

"Okay Jackson, tell your men to ready the bazookas and any other explosives so that my men can get close to them. We can't let that flagship get away," spoke Firmen hastily, coughing a bit on some smoke. Jackson nodded and shuffled over to where his group was and took inventory. They possessed five shrapnel grenades, two bazookas with four shells collectively, three smoke grenades, and each man in the twenty man squad had a fully loaded rifle.

"Okay, get the frag grenades and bazookas ready," called out Jackson to the two men with bazookas strapped to their back. They nodded and got to work setting up and loading the weapons. Jackson turned back to Firmen. "After we fire, have your men in position to storm the ships."

Firmen nodded but appeared to be a bit concerned. "I'm not sure my men can get to the first ship fast enough, especially considering that they will have to transverse a literal obstacle course of floating platforms and hazards," spoke the marine, pulling at his uncomfortable white shirt. A cannon ball then exploded through the half sunken ship they were hiding behind, sending splinters everywhere and sent everyone to the ground.

Over the ringing in their ears, many didn't hear the loud shriek of a marine on Jackson's squad screaming because he had just dropped a live grenade on the wooden platform they were on. Acting quickly, he scrambled over to it, grabbed the weapon, and threw it as hard as he could in away from them. Inadvertently, the marine happened to throw it over their cover and directly at the enemy. Now normally this throw wouldn't have gone very far, but at the very moment the grenade reached its peak height, a strong gust of wind came by and gave it an extra push. Also, a random explosion happening at nearly the same moment added extra lift and height, attributing to the amazing 128 yard throw.

The grenade fell on the deck of the enemy ship with a dull thud and rolled next to the supply of explosive impact cannon balls. A moment later, the ship erupted into flames like a firework. Some of the flaming remnants that were ejected even hit the second ship, catching it ablaze. With nothing but their boots put out the fire, the ship was soon engulfed.

Now that the two ships in range of firing at them were gone or disabled, Firmen and Jackson's group had a clear path, relatively speaking. It's not like the heat and treacherous landscape had disappeared, but this did make things a lot easier. Everyone gaped at the destruction in awe, then slowly turned to the lone marine who still had his arm in mid throw, also in shock. A god of luck couldn't have gotten a better series of events if he tried. Of course that marine wasn't going to say shit about it being an accident. Might as well pretend to have skills just this once.

"Nice job dude! Holy crap," shouted Firmen, saying what everyone was thinking. With a clear path, the time to strike was now.

"Let's go men! Forward move!"

"Hazzah!"

Back with Zoro, his team had finally made it to the center of destruction. What could only be assumed as the sea restaurant Baratie, or what was left, was half way sunken into the sea. Looking around from the high vantage point of some piled up wreckage, it appeared as if there was no surviving civilians in the area. But since they were already there and it would be long journey back to the ship, Zoro decided to investigate further. After telling everyone else to stay and take a breather, he began descending downward.

There was no floating piece of wood or footholds to get to the Baratie, so Zoro was forced to swim the rest of the way. As he swam forward, he noticed that there were some sharks that had begun to feast on the dead. Sickening. Multiple bodies were floating around the restaurant, some face down, others facing up. Every now and then anther body would be dragged down into the watery deep by some terrible sea creature. Swimming in the area was making Zoro physically sick, so he decided to head back now. Clearly no one had survived.

But as the swordsman swam back, something caught his eye. A blonde headed corpse sure was acting like it was still alive. Stopping his forward momentum, Zoro treaded water next to the man. Unlike everyone else, this man's skin still had a rosy alive look about it. Also, even though Zoro was no expert, he was sure that corpses didn't have a steady rise and fall in their chest. Yes, this man was alive, no doubt about it.

Awkwardly using his left arm to hold on to the curly browed man, Zoro swam back to the large wreckage pile that the men were still stationed on. Chars, who saw that his squad leader had someone with him, scaled down the pile and lifted Sanji out the water so that Zoro could lift himself out. The two made it back up the pile and Zoro made the command that it was time to head back, an order no one was disappointed at. Being the strongest, Zoro carried Sanji on his back on the trip back.

* * *

During all of this, Luffy had been sitting on a barrel, ready to jump at any sign that his me were in trouble that they couldn't get out of. Nothing had happened as of yet, so Luffy had not moved. Although his Observation did pick up on something else. Three Navy ships were approaching at a fairly quick pace. This didn't really surprise Luffy at all, in fact he wondering when they would get here.

 _Okay, no need to be worried. I doubt anyone will actually notice that I'm not the real captain of this ship. If they do, just burn the fuckers._

This was what Luffy was thinking before he sensed a stronger than average person. Or at least stronger than everyone else he had met so far. Also, this man had a particular aura about him as well. It was a subtle change, but the Strawhat was capable enough to sense it. This man had a devil fruit ability. Hmm, maybe avoiding a confrontation would be best.

The three ships finally pulled up next to Luffy's ship, and the two men came face to face. The clear captain of the ships jump from the middle vessel and landed on Luffy's. He had white hair, an unzipped jacket that had dark green fur on the collar, brown gloves, blue pants, brown leather boots, a cigar in his mouth, and a sea stone tipped jitte. How did Luffy know it was sea stone tipped? He didn't know, it was just an odd feeling he had.

"Can I help you," asked the raven haired teen, looking the Navy captain dead in the eyes. Smoker looked Luffy in his one eye and tried to figure out if he had ever met this kid before, who was apparently a Navy captain like himself. Also like himself, Luffy had a custom Navy jacket. _Is this guy new?_

"State your name," grunted out Smoker.

"Monkey D. Luffy."

"I've never heard of you."

"Hey, since you clearly have time to talk, could send some of your men to back up my own. They are currently attempting to apprehend Don Krieg."

Smoker paused for a second before responding. "Why are you not with them?"

"Then it would be too easy and they wouldn't grow as fighters."

This brought up even more questions, but the captain pushed them away for now. What was important right now was capturing Don Krieg. Although it would be a nightmare trying to get through all this wreckage on foot. What had even done this?

"Tashigi, take a 20 man team and help Captain Luffy's men."

The younger girl saluted, "Yes sir."

Smoker turned back around and looked at Luffy again. "What happened here?"

"I destroyed Don Krieg's fleet. What else do you think happened here?"

Smoker grit his teeth. "I mean… how did you destroy the fleet with one ship?"

Luffy lifted his hand and activated his devil fruit, turning it into fire and shocking everyone who saw. "With fire."

Now this was really starting to tug at Smoker's nerves. How had he not heard about another Navy captain in the East Blue with devil fruit powers? Especially considering this seemed to be a destructive logia. Where had this guy even come from?

Before any of these questions could be answered, Tashigi told Smoker that she was ready to move when he was. He sighed and decided to be grateful that someone had come in and done most of the heavy lifting. Although, he vowed to get to the bottom of this.

"Let's move then."

The Captain and his Lieutenant jumped from the ship along with twenty of their men. Meanwhile, the other 200 or so men left behind on the three ships kind of took a breather. They looked at Luffy every now and then and he looked back at them. No one really talked. Most where still freaked out by the one eyed, fire person.

It was only a couple of minutes after Smoker left when Zoro's team showed up. Luffy immediately sensed that there was a new person with them. Albeit a nearly dead person, but still a person. As soon as they had all climbed onto the ship, Luffy rushed over and took Sanji from Zoro's back.

"Good Job, Zoro," spoke Luffy softly. The swordsman nodded and went to find some booze and a nap before noticing that they weren't the only ship here anymore. He decided not to question it for now and walked to the lower levels. Most of the men with him did the same, completely exhausted from fighting and jumping around for the better part of two hours. It didn't matter that there was another marine vessel here that they could go to for help and tell them about Luffy actually being a pirate. What good would that do accept cause a battle, and they were tired as it is. Plus, Luffy wasn't so bad and he watched out for them, so he might as well be a Navy captain in their eyes.

Luffy rushed Sanji over to the other ship and asked them to take care of the man. Seeing no reason to decline and acknowledging that Luffy was of a higher rank than them, they took the wounded cook with care and rushed him towards the infirmary. Not really knowing why, Luffy hoped that the man would live through this. The cook's situation seemed very similar to his own. They both lost everything in an instant. Although based on the state of Sanji's body, he had fought hard for his home, something Luffy couldn't relate too.

Chars went up to Luffy while wiping soot from his eyes and face, mirroring what everyone else seemed to be doing. No doubt the showers would be full for a while. "Sir, while we were only able to find one civilian survivor, we apprehended 58 enemy pirates."

"Good job. Get some rest Chars and tell the men to do the same." He nodded and walked off. Luffy turned back around to face Smokers men. "Hey, since you guys aren't doing anything at the moment, get to work collecting those 58 pirates."

The men looked at each other and shrugged. They weren't ones to go against an order from a higher ranking marine, especially one as scary as this man. After a heated game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', 58 marines were picked to go into the wreckage and retrieve the pirates. They weren't happy about that either.

* * *

Back with Firmen and Jackson's groups, they were making good headway against the two remaining ships. The third to last had already been taken down with a well-aimed bazooka round. Right now, they were looking to sink the last one before the flagship. Getting to it had been next to impossible because it was 200 yards away with superior fire power. None of their weapons could reach that far and there were open patches littered in where swimming would be required. Putting it simply, there was no way to get across without dying. So far there was no causalities and that is how they wanted it to stay.

"I think we should send someone back to get Luffy so he can finish this," suggested Jackson, out of ideas. Firmen agreed, believing this to be the only option. Looking out from behind cover, Firmen saw something that engulfed him in anger. So much so that he punched the floating wooded platform beneath them. All this was going to be for nothing.

"What's wrong," asked Jackson, concerned at the action. Firmen sighed and just pointed towards the enemy ships. Jackson complied and looked across the smoke and water, immediately seeing the problem. Krieg's ship had found a path out the wreckage and was in full retreat. By the time they were able to get Luffy, Don Krieg would already be gone.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, I looked up longest baseball throw (assuming baseballs and grenades weigh about the same) and it said the longest throw was 132 yards. So that 128 yard throw wasn't technically impossible, just unlikely. Tell me how rusty my writing has gotten in the comments, just go easy on my gentle heart.

Also, what did you think of the new flare flare move I invented? A lot more new moves where that came from. Let's be honest, 'fire fist' was getting old


	5. Usopp's Homecourt Battle

**A/N:** Hello, who missed me? No one? Okay, whatever then. Well looks like I was able to stop reading Assassination Classroom for enough time to write this. Oh, some of you may have questions about how Usopp was able to set such elaborate traps in one night. Well in this story he had three days to plan. This will be explained more next chapter. For now enjoy.

 **phonenix:** Garp huh. Yea I'm defiantly doing something big with his reveal but he will be shown soon enough.

 **MOrme:** Thank you for all the great ideas and I will take your advice on methods Luffy would use to increase in flame powers. PM me when you get the chance.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

Smoker and his small unit of twenty men made their way through the still smoking wreak that was Krieg's fleet. His men were doing slightly better than Luffy's had in terms of navigation. Smoker kept his marines in top shape, so it was really no wonder. The slow pace was killing Smoker though, each time he had to wait for someone to catch up was time Krieg was using to escape.

"I'm going ahead. Catch up later," grunted Smoker to Tashigi before dematerializing and flying away. The young women groaned in slight annoyance but carried on rather unfazed. It was an expected move by Smoker anyway. Meanwhile, the marine captain was searching through the maze of sinking ships, trying to find where the fighting was happening through sound. Sadly, there was currently a lull in fighting, plus every sound that was made kept echoing throughout the area, making the source impossible to find.

It was about seven minutes of intense searching before he finally spotted where Luffy's me were stationed behind a large half sunken ship. Not wasting time, he materialized in front of them, causing some to scream out in shock. Wasn't everyday a man materialized out of thin air, although after what Luffy did, it wasn't even the craziest thing to happen in the last three hours. The marine captain walked over to the men (who visibly calmed once they saw the Navy jacket) and asked what the current situation was.

"Well Captain Smoker, we are currently unable to proceed forward because the distance between us and the pirates are too far to get a clear shot. If the ground was solid, then maybe a head on assault could work, but the debris ahead is far spaced with minimum cover; we would be shot down before getting our bearings," explained Firmen, completely out of options.

"What about Krieg," asked a hopeful Smoker, knowing he could catch the notorious East Blue pirate. Firmen ducked his head in shame. Jackson picked up from there.

"Don Krieg's flagship disappeared behind the horizon 2 minutes ago after finding an opening in the wreckage heading southeast. He's gone."

Smoker cursed under his breath and stood from his crotched position, looking even angrier than usual. Setting his sights on the pirate ship up ahead, the captain transferred into his intangible element form and slowly floated past the cover and towards the remaining Krieg pirates. Interesting enough, because of all the smoke already clouding the area, none of the pirates noticed until one of their lookouts on deck was bashed in the head so hard that an audible crack echoed through the ship.

The first pirate to react turned around and reached for his pistol, only for Smoker's jette to whip across his cheek with such force that he sent spinning horizontally off the ship. Two other pirates on deck turned around and aimed their rifles for the captain, but realized that he had vanished. Meanwhile, a very terrifying marine reformed behind the two and roughly grabbed both heads, smashing them together like cymbals and cracking their skulls like a walnut. Before their bodies could slump over, Smoker reached down and pulled the two rifles from their hands, aimed both at the mast, and fire simultaneously. The wooden beam of wood splintered and twisted under its own weight before falling sideways into the water, along with the two lookouts in the crow's nest.

"What was that," screamed someone below deck. Not even 10 seconds later, four guys from below deck appeared, each holding a pistol locked and ready. Smoker threw one of the rifles in hand at the first one, striking him in the nose and knocking him out instantly. The next two, distracted by the first, didn't see the double "White Blow" until two smoking fist struck them below the chin, sending them flying backwards. The fourth and final rolled out the way in time, but as soon as he lifted his head back up, he was face to face with Smoker's boots. The pirate's surprised expression quickly turned into one of pain as he was lifted by his hair.

"Where is Krieg headed?"

The nameless pirate looked deep into smokers rage filled eyes and was suddenly unable to come up with a witty response villains often respond with when interrogated.

"I-I-I don't know."

Smoker's eyes harden and he bit through his cigar. "Wrong answer."

* * *

In search of something to drink, preferably in the alcoholic variety, Zoro walked around the ship before ending up in the medical bay where the kid with pink hair had been resting in. _Is medical alcohol drinkable? Eh, probably shouldn't risk._ Before the swordsman could leave however, the small boy began to stir and slowly rise from his unconsciousness. The swordsman really didn't want to be the one to bring this kid up to speed, but in would be rude to leave.

Coby looked around in confusion once his eyes opened. The first thing he noticed was the IV sticking into arm, then the fact that he wasn't wearing his old soiled clothes from when he pasted out, but instead a slightly to big marine shirt and pants. _Who am I?_

Turning around, Coby saw Zoro at the doorway, just chilling and waiting to be noticed. "H-Hey sir, do you have any idea where I am right now?"

"A Navy ship."

"A-A-Am I a marine?"

"You don't remember?"

Coby looked down and wracked his brain for an answer to that question, nearly giving himself a headache in the process. _What's my name! Name! Name! C-Cody? Cory? Coby!_

"MY NAME IS COBY," he all but scream at Zoro, who opted to take a step back. Well that was great, but if he didn't have memories attached to that name, it meant close to nothing. Staring down again, he began the tedious process of thinking. Meanwhile, Zoro was becoming board and thirstier each second to the point he was actually considering that medical alcohol as an option.

"Hey kid, when you figure out your life, come get me I guess," spoke Zoro, already on his way out the room. Coby didn't try to stop him, if that guy was a marine then he was probably busy with more important matters anyway. _Wait, how did I know that?_

Zoro left Coby to his journey of self-rediscovery and once again started walking around the ship in search of booze. After 5 minutes of somehow ending up in the barracks each time he went down a stair case, the swordsman finally made it…back on deck where he started. But it just so happened that the marines of Luffy's crew had brought 5 kegs of sake out on deck and were celebrating their semi victory over Don Krieg's fleet, so everything ended up alright after all. Smoker's men, which Luffy and sent to retrieve the defeated Krieg pirates, were stunned at the display. Their captain would never dream of having such a celebration. But to each his own.

Speaking of Smoker's men, one of them jumped from their ship to Luffy's and approached the captain currently seated on a barrel next to the railing. "Sir, I thought you might want to know that the one civilian to live is currently in stable condition. However, I feel I should add that he may be the most resilient human that has ever passed my hands."

"Thank you doctor. Please contact me if he is to wake up." The marine doctor nodded and made his way back to Smoker's ship via a plank connecting the two. "Hey Zoro, come over here for a second."

The swordsman put down the barrel he had been guzzling sake from and walked over to his captain. "Zoro, if the civilian you saved wakes up, contact me," request Luffy before heading into the lower parts of the ship. Using Observation, he easily locates the medical ward and walks in to find a clearly deep in thought Coby. Even when he walks in, the boy doesn't realize there is anyone new in his presence.

"Ahem," grunts Luffy, alerting Coby that someone else is in the room. The pink hair boy turned around and nearly shit himself. It was the one-eyed teenager from… _Where have I seen him from before?_ While pondering that, Luffy walks closer and sits on the bed Coby is in, startling him even more, although the boy can't remember why he's scared. Noticing the unease, the captain tries to elevate the situation.

"It's okay, I don't bite," says Luffy through a wide smile, which actually calms Coby down a little. The eye thing is still a little weird, but he chastise himself for being so inconsiderate. This man is a marine and probably lost his eye fighting bravely against pirates! That was battle scar to be proud of.

"Hey kid, mind telling me your name?"

"Huh? O-Oh, my name is Coby." Luffy, still smiling so as to put the kids fears to rest, nods.

"That's a nice name Coby. Can you remember anything before getting rescued?"

Coby looks down and shakes his head a bit. "I…I don't really remember anything specific. I remember being afraid of fat women…? I think I'm good at fishing? Something regarding a fishing boat happened that was important." The boy hit his head with both fist, as if trying to dislodge the memories from where ever they were hiding. "I-I wanted to be a marine more than anything! Maybe I was on my way to a Navy base and got ship wreaked?!"

Luffy thought about this a bit. It seemed probable that Coby could have stolen a life boat from the civilian cruise ship and attempted to make it to a Navy Base after Alvida left him. Hmm, well whatever happened, the kid had some pretty god luck to run into them, or rather they run into him. Putting his thoughts aside for now, Luffy turned back around and rubbed the kids head affectionately like Makino did him once.

"Well looks like you ended up in the right place. Maybe it's fate." Luffy stood up and began walking out the doorway, before stopping. "Get some rest kid. I'll wake you up when it's time to eat." When the captain walked fully through the doorway, he saw an eavesdropper just out of sight behind the frame, leaning on the wall in boredom. In fact, Luffy thought he might be asleep, but the swordsman spoke first.

"The blonde haired Baratie guy is awake. He asked to see the guy who saved him, but I thought I'd tell you before going."

"Thanks for the courtesy." The two somehow mentally synced, turned placed their hands deep in their respective pockets, and walked for the deck. Zoro followed where the captain went, not yet knowing how to navigate this maze. As they make it back topside, Zoro decides to comment on what he just heard.

"You know, you're really good with kids and terrifying to adults." Luffy hums in agreement but waits till they are crossing over to Smokers ship to comment back.

"They remind me of me and my brothers when we were young. Mostly innocent to the world." There is a hint of sadness and anger behind that response, but Zoro won't push it further than that. One of the doctors, dressed in scrubs and a mask, notice them and lead the two into the lower decks and to the medical ward.

The doctor removes the mask and speaks softly once they are at the closed door of the medical ward. "Try to keep voice down and do not excite him in any means. I'm honestly not sure how he is alive and awake right now after pulling more than twenty bullets out of him and stitching up his fucking head," the doctor mutters to himself and walks away. Luffy and Zoro look at each other and walk inside. What they see is a mummy laying on a hospital bed hooked up to multiple IV's and equipment. Feeling a bit awkward, they take a seat in the two fold out chairs next to the bed. The room is pretty big for a ship and looks like they could fit 6 more beds into here if need be.

"W-W-Which…o-one of y-ye s-s-s-saved m-me," asked Sanji, who was propped up so as to see the two men. Zoro spoke first.

"Well I'm the one who pulled you out the water, but my captain is the one that destroyed Krieg's fleet and made the order to look for survivors."

The only parts that weren't covered in bandages were Sanji's eyes and mouth, so when his eyes went from already bloodshot to wide and extremely bloodshot, the two other men noticed the change. He even started to move a little and shake the bed.

"I-I-Is K-Kreeeiiggg dead?!"

Zoro and Luffy both became a little worried and thought of calling the doctor before Sanji's arm shot forward faster than even Luffy could follow, and grab hold of Zoro's arm with a surprisingly strong grip. An audible pop was even heard before Luffy quickly responded.

"No, I don't believe him to be dead." The hand immediately released and retracted. Zoro rubbed the sore spot on his forearm, and scooted back a little, surprised at what just happened. A look of relief appeared on Sanji's face.

"Good. I- **I** want t-t-to be the o-one that kills him." Zoro looks a little discomforted, but his captain bows his head and nods in agreement with a small grin.

"Zoro, could I ask you to leave me and him alone for a while?"

The swordsman, able to read the mood and see this isn't his conversation, nods and walks out, closing the door behind him. As soon as he is out of ear shot, Luffy stands abruptly, knocking over his chair and getting Sanji's attention.

"What's your name?"

"S-Sanji."

"Okay Sanji," starts Luffy, walking closer to the bed and staring directly in the cook's eyes. "What are you feeling right now? How do feel about all of this?" The answer didn't take long.

"I want to die." Luffy's grin widen, giving Sanji a feeling of bewilderment.

"That's good. Hold on to that a little longer and get used to the feeling. The feeling of not wanting to live." Sanji's eyes widen a bit but he keeps silent.

"You know Sanji, I've been exactly where you are right now. Wanting to die, having nothing, feeling completely worthless. Feeling like a failure and wondering why you lived and nobody else did. I've been there, hell I'm still there! But underneath all of that…What. Do. You. Feel?"

Sanji's eyes grow hard, understanding what this clearly insane man was talking about. He might have been skeptical to as whether this man actually understood, but the look in his one eye said it all.

"I feel anger." It was a shout in Sanji's mind, but his mouth still was up to the task of shouting. Luffy's grin grew even bigger.

"Do you want revenge?!"

"I… **DO!** " The yell was so loud that Sanji's body visibly shook, his eyes becoming redder than an apple.

A twinkle appeared in Luffy's eye. "Excellent."

* * *

Meanwhile, Smoker appeared along with his and Luffy's men, only to find that half his marines were gone. Finding the nearest marine, which happened to be Chars, Smoker asked where his marines went.

"Captain Luffy requested their assistance in retrieving the apprehended Krieg pirates. I'm sure most are returning right now, sir!" The loyal marine saluted and walked off, leaving Smoker in a stupor. Looking around, he saw that marines where drinking and being merry together. Even some of _his_ marines were partying.

"What the hell is THIS!"

Everyone froze and turned around, Smokers men trembling slightly in fear. Luffy's men were a little shaken but not afraid. As long as their captain was here, not much bad could be done to them. Speaking of Luffy, he and Zoro walked on deck, not appearing to have even heard Smoker. Of course this wouldn't sit well the irate marine captain at all. As soon as Luffy walked back to his own ship deck, the smoke logia was in his face immediately.

"Do you have an explanation for this level of tomfoolery, or are you just an idiot," asked smoker, voice audible strained with attempting not to shout. The Navy captain was aware that he was stricter than the average marine when it came to order, but this was ridiculous. Luffy, unlike everyone else (excluding Zoro, Firmen, and Jackson) was not in the least intimidated, which infuriated Smoker to an even fuller extent. Every second the tension grew thicker, reaching its peak when Zoro unsheathed his blade a bit, an action which Tashigi mirrored. What no one saw was Firmen and Jackson reaching for their weapons as well. This tension visible melted when Luffy began laughing his head off, albeit in a somewhat disturbing way. The sight of a man with a hole for one eye and grin that twisted into some sort of nightmare caused both Smoker and Tashigi to back off considerably.

"Shishishi...Hahaha…ah, I had a felling something like this would happen," spoke Luffy wiping away a tear, "cigar for brains, how long has it been since you ate a logia fruit?" Before the captain could respond, Luffy raised a hand to stop him from speaking.

"It doesn't really matter I guess, but it must have been while so let me put some things straight. Having the knowledge that you could get offed at any moment is stressful as hell, but it's a fact we all deal with. These men around us deal with it more so than me or you can ever." To make his point, the straw hat gestured to ever one around.

"At any moment these men could be killed by any number things, while you and would have to be forcibly shoved in the ocean. The way I see it, they deserve a little celebration if for nothing else than that there was no casualties on our side because that can change the next day." Luffy looked down at his hand and activated his devil fruit, letting out a tiny swirl of fire, thinking of how truly unlucky Ace had been. "Things sure can change quickly…"

Then without any more words, Luffy walked past Smoker and went to converse with his returning two groups. "I will not say anything of your beliefs but don't you dare judge mine."

Smoker didn't say anything to that, just silently walked to his ship and went below deck to the captains quarters. It wasn't something that he would ever admit, but that kid shaken him a little. The young girl usually found beside her captain was still in a light shock at what just happened. _Is that really a marine captain?_ What broke her out of said shock was the sight of Zoro's blade. Never in her life did she think that she would see a legendary blade of such high quality in this sea. With a marine no less, even if he didn't really come off as the marine type.

"Okay everyone you heard me. All of yall could die at any moment in your current states, so put the sake away and start training! Firmen and Jackson's group go rest up and come back in three hours! Firmen! Jackson! Zoro! Get over here." Zoro walked past Tashigi and towards his captain along with the other two that were called.

Once they were huddled next to Luffy, he began inquiring and going in depth with how everything went and any areas of improvement they saw. What he was told was basically what he expected, just general strength and stamina training would be needed. _My work is cut out for me I guess. Hmm, it is kind of strange that these guys don't seem to be able to predict movements or sense presences like myself. I'll have to look further into that._

"So Firmen, you said that Smoker was able to find out where Krieg is headed? That's good."

"Yea, apparently it's a small reef a few miles from here. If we head southeast right now at full speed we should be able to overtake them in two days. From what I hear, one of their sails was partially burned by your attack. Of course, if we continue to Arlong Park and take down the Fishman Pirates in the quickest time possible, which I assume is 1 minute if we count the time it takes for you to fly over to the island, we can turn around and possibly make it to the reef in 9 days. They may leave before that though."

Luffy rolled the thought in his head for a while. It was true that he could probably take down the fishmen in one minute and hightail it back to Krieg, but if Krieg had already left then it would be rather troublesome to find him again. Although with his current Navy status, getting information would be simple. But then it might be awhile before Sanji can physically move from Smoker's to his ship without dying. He couldn't leave without him, especially considering the talk they just had. Also Sanji mentioned afterward that he was a cook and they need one so…yea.

"I made a promise to a cook of the Baratie that he would get his revenge. That being said, we have to stay put for probably another day until he is well enough to get off life support. Also if we do not give chase to Krieg I fear that he will either escape or be caught by another marine. So there is no choice but go hunting for Krieg as soon as possible. Arlong Park will have to wait."

Firmen and Jackson nodded and left for the lower decks, most likely to get a little rest. Zoro also nodded but went to another part of the deck to train his swordsman group further. With his orders finally set in stone, Luffy went to go find Smoker to make a deal.

* * *

 **Meanwhile in Syrup Village**

* * *

"I the great…CAPTAIN USOPP will stop you from setting one foot into this island!"

Currently the without a doubt number one most terrified person in the East Blue, was about to enter a fight he couldn't possibly win. He also happened to be the bravest man in the East Blue coincidentally. Though his legs shook uncontrollably and his palms were so sweaty that the slingshot in his hand nearly slipped from his grip, he held his ground. The pirates gathered at the bottom of the quarry were actually getting a good laugh from it.

"Hahaha! Is this dumbass serious?! Buddy you should have run when you had the chance," jeered one of the feline dressed pirates. The others laughed with him, finding the situation hilarious even though this was quite serious. The leader of this unruly bunch, an oddly dressed hypnotist, was not as laid back though.

"Listen everyone we must not be late. Kill him and get to the village quickly before Kuro comes."

Having had their laugh for the day, the pirates began their rush up the rocky path not paying the one who was at the top any mind. Mistake on their part. Because they did not take him seriously, no one noticed the series of ropes tied to multiple trees in the forest. Usopp leaned back, pulled out a knife, and cut the first rope which was connected to a network of other ropes attached to oil barrels in the tops of the trees that line the edge of the quarry top. The six oil barrels hanging over head fell into the quarry, dumping the contents all over the ground and pirates. The results were very satisfying.

"What is this shit!? I can't stop slipping!" Jango, who was the only one to avoid the oil, appeared to be ripping his hair out his scalp in frustration. This wasn't looking good for them already.

"HAHAHA, the GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP will stop you dead in your tracks!"

Jango watched as his men slipped and slid, unable to gain any ground at all. Dang they were already behind schedule.

"Okay everyone look at me right now! You are getting stronger, ever stronger! Faster, the fastest of all! One! Two! Jango!"

Everyone stopped struggling and slowly slid to the bottom in a haze. Usopp raised his eyebrows in confusion. _What's going on-?_

" **AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"**

The cosplaying pirates screamed with glazed over eyes, veins appearing all over their arms, neck, and legs. This new appearance was also accompanied with large grins of madness. The sniper's eyes widened when they began running up the incline despite oil still being present, granted it did decease their speed. _Guess I have no choice._

Usopp pulled his goggles over his eyes and pulled out a red colored star. "Sure kill: Flame Star"

The entire quarry lit up like a match in a dynamite cellar. Oil is flammable after all. The screams of agony were enough to send a chill up Usopp's spine and make him feel like a monster in the process, however he shook these thoughts quickly. _Just think of Kaya. Just think of her safety._ Usopp couldn't see through the wall of fire and smoke, but based on the fact that the screams got further away, he guessed the pirates had headed to the ocean water and put themselves out. This is what he expected and knew the probability of anyone actually dying was low. _But if they are headed to the ocean, which is full of salt, it will only increase the pain of their burns._ The blood curdling screams confirmed this thought. After about two minutes, the fire having used up its fuel source died down giving Usopp a clear picture of his work.

Every piece of pirate folder was currently either passed out or writhing in pain on the ground, unable to move, much less attack. He had done it! He won against hardened pirates! Jango was fucking beside himself. There was no point in trying to hypnotize them again considering you at least had to be conscious for it to work properly. Nope, there was only one option available.

"Sham! Bunchi! Get out here!"

The two cat twins jumped from the ship and wasted no time sprinting towards Usopp. They would usually have played around a bit to make the opponent let their guard down, but this was a sniper and what worked against them was a fast rush. The oil was nothing more than a stain on the ground now, so this did nothing inhibit their progress.

"Hehehehe! Sorry, we have to kill you now," laughed Sham. Usopp nearly shit his pants, legs shaking to the point of inability to walk. _Just go with the plan! Just go with the plan!_ Slowly, Usopp shuffled backward to the edge of the tree line where he had set up all the traps and cut the next rope. This rope had actually been attached to a hook a couple of yards away in the woods, which had been attached to a giant rubber band that was stretched to the limit (basically a makeshift slingshot). The ammo in this rubber band was a rather crude weapon, a large rock with explosive stars taped to it. Once the tension in the rope fell so did the hook, releasing the rubber band and sending the rock hurtling through the forest at over 150 mph.

Usopp knowing what was about to happen, dropped to the ground and hid his face in mock cowardliness. Sham and Buchi took this opportunity to pounce, not believing this was the man that took down their crew. However in that moment of mid attack, an object came hurtling out the woods with the volicity of a bullet, striking and exploding on impact with Buchi's head. Sham's eyes widened as his partner was thrown backwards, not noticing his target standing quickly with slingshot drawn.

"You can't dodge midair can you, Explosive Stars!"

Usopp let four explosive stars fly with precision, one in both eyes and two in his agape mouth. The resulting explosion sent Sham flying backwards, nearly snapping his neck in the process. The bloodied cat fell a couple of feet from his brother, both KO'd in one killer series of moves. The sniper couldn't even comprehend that his plan actually worked. Home court advantage really did wonders in terms of battle results. Yes, he was feeling pretty good until he remembered the final boss and went back into focus mode. The man seemed to be quaking in his boots to the point of fear caused paralyses. _Hmph, serves him right for trying to defeat the great Captain Usopp in-_

Usopp's thoughts ended half way due to the five knives that had enclosed around his head. A little pee leaked from his privates but he stood rigid with terror, unable to move his head left or right without accidently cutting himself. _OH SHHHHHHHIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!_

"Hello Usopp. I see you've met my former crew already. Since there is no need for formalities then, let's get to the fun part," spoke Kuro in a cool somewhat cheerful voice, failing to mask the intense bloodlust behind his words. Usopp never saw the strike coming. Blood was splattered across the quarry walls in bold streaks. The blood of a pirate's son.

* * *

 **A/N:** Next chapter we get to watch Syrup Village burn. What did you guys think of the interaction Luffy had with Smoker? Is Tashigi checking out Zoro? Will I reach my gore limit with next chapter? Is Sanji mental okay? Find out next time.

Also as a side note, I was wondering if any of you had any OC idea's for the characters in the Grand Line. If you get any character idea's for new marines or pirates or what their role could be PM or comment it.


	6. Birth of a new Usopp

**A/N: I'm back! Sorry this chapter took so long, but it went through a lot of different phases. Wasn't sure whether to make some characters die or not. Also wasn't sure how dark to make it, but I think I figured it out pretty well. I've also been trying to straighten out this plot and after talking to a friend, pretty sure I know where to take it. Any who, on with the show**

 **Oh btw since a lot people have asked, I will not ever go into detail on the death of children or rape. It will always be implied.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

Kuro watched in mild fascination as crimson liquid dripped off the knives on his right hand. Oh it had been too long. Only the feeling of a plan coming together could beat this Euphoria. That and the peace of mind he so desperately sought after. Oh this would be a great day. Looking down at a crumbled, bleeding form of Usopp, he could almost laugh. In fact a chuckle slipped from his usually composed expression. Only killing Kayla would be able to beat this feeling. The very thought was orgasmic. Movement on the ground before him drew his attention. Looks like the little insect was alive after all. He hadn't gone deep with his knives so it wasn't really a surprise. There were 5 cuts: one on each cheek, one on each temple, and one down the middle of his scalp.

Kuro bent down in front of the warrior and used his index claw to lift his head upward. Usopp's eyes flickered open, to dazed to recoil in pain from the knife currently digging into the flesh under his chin. Blood leaking out of his head clouded his vision like a red filter.

"It looks like you're holding on to that worthless life of yours Usopp. Good. I want you to hear the screams of the people you couldn't protect. In the end, you were just a liar and failure. Maybe I'll bring Kayla's corpse over here when I'm done so you can say goodbye." Usopp groaned and shivered.

"I do want to thank you though Usopp. You proved to me that my formal crew was indeed more worthless than trash."

Speaking of, some pirates started to regain consciousness and attempt to stand. Seconds later, screams of pain as the burn blisters which coated their body began to burst. The ones with blisters on their faces were especially horrific. Pus and Blood flowed from their bodies and stained the ground beneath them in swirled pools. Jango, who was about to hypnotize them again, but threw up the second he opened his mouth. I guess they were lucky compared to Sham who may or may not still have eyes or Bunchi, who looked like his face had a rearrangement with the pavement. Those two weren't moving right now.

"On the…bluurrp!" More vomit spilled out of Jango's mouth. When he saw the glance Kuro was giving, he swallowed his bile and began again. "Everyone look at me!"

The few pirates that could still be considered coherent turned and looked at him. The rest continued to roll around on the sand screaming their heads off. Hypnotizing them would be impossible. Focusing on the 10 that actually could still hear, he began his job.

"O-On the count of t-three…you will not feel any pain and get stronger. One, two, Jango! I mean three! Wait…"

Somehow how that actually worked, and the pirates had their eyes glazed over in power. Veins appeared around their bodies and the pervious pain was forgotten. Raising from the ground, they grabbed discarded cutlasses and gave a war cry. A war cry that might as well have been the bell of doom for the village. Usopp, even in his delirious state began to cry at what was coming now. Not his death, but the death of his town. His plan had been to save the villagers and his friends, but it looks like that was out the window. A sharp stab of pain went through Usopp's head, causing his vision to blur and blood to bubble from his mouth.

"Now go! Spare no one!"

The pirates rushed up the cliff, running past Usopp and Kuro in a desperate attempt to make up for lost time. Poor fools didn't know that no matter what happened, they would die. While they rushed through the woods, the ex-pirate captain leisurely walked down the quarry towards the sea before disappearing from sight. In an instant the screams coming from the writhing pirates went out, their wind pipes cut instantly.

Then Kuro appeared again, licking blood from his claws. Usopp, still passing in and out of delirium, gasped in shock. Jango stood rigid at attention, even with the knowledge he couldn't be killed before the deed is done.

"Come Jango, there is still work to be done."

As if he has all the time in the world, Kuro begins leisurely walking towards the town, Jango following close behind. Usopp grunts and tries to move, but barely lifts two inches off the ground before collapsing, staying still. He remains that way until the two pirates enter the forest and disappear from view, making sure they're gone. Finally, out of earshot, the sniper quickly reaches into his bag, pulling out a needle and piece of rope.

He rolls on his stomach and takes a sitting up position, wraps the rope around his right upper arm tightly, and begins to aim the needle at the appropriate vein. The violent pulsing in his head along with the blood in his eyes makes the task especially difficult, not to mention he only practiced this a few times last night. In the distance, a scream tears through air like a gunshot.

 _Wait for me Kayla_

The needle punctures the skin and vein, the clear liquid inside the container is injected into his blood stream. The effect is almost immediate. His agony dries up, strength seems to course through his body once again. Usopp quickly stands up, grabs his slingshot from the ground, and wipes the blood from his eyes. His whole body twitches as he looks around, making sure no one noticed him before making a beeline through the trees, intent to warn Marry before it was too late.

* * *

A few yards away from the Gecko Island, the Going Merry bobbed up and down on restless waves. The inhabitants of said ship were far more restless however. Kayla and the Usopp Pirates looked towards the island that served as their home. They had been on the ship for around three hours, as per their agreement with Usopp.

Three nights ago he had come to them with disturbing news. _Real_ pirates would be attacking the island in three days' time. How he came about this information, he wouldn't say. The four who knew him best caught on pretty quickly that this was no lie, the tears and the body language spoke for itself. Moreover, for Usopp to ask Kayla – who wasn't feeling well – to move her fragile body to the edge of the island and get on a ship, meant this was very serious indeed. He would never risk the heath of a friend for a joke. Of course the Usopp pirates had been rearing to go fight with him, but his pleading finally won out. The deal was that they stay on the ship and be prepared to leave if they heard screaming coming from the village and he wasn't back with Merry. If he succeeded however, he would come get them. Simple. Well, simple in theory.

You _can_ ask someone to not go help their best friend fight off murderers. Whether they _will_ is another story. The Usopp Pirates seemed to almost be losing their minds with being on this ship, not knowing if their Captain had died fighting the good fight or not. When the first terror filled screams met their ears, everyone's blood ran cold. In all honestly, they had hoped this would have been another lie, but it seemed over wise. Ninjin was the first to respond.

"WE NEED TO GO HELP USOPP!"

Kayla stood from where she was sitting, tears prickling from the edges of her eyes. Her mind flooded with images of Usopp and Merry laying in a pool of their own blood, but she needed to be strong for these boys right now. Tamanegi spoke up next.

"WE CANNOT! REMEMBER THE LAST THING HE ASKED US?"

 _Okay guys, if I don't come back I need you to protect and be strong for Kayla. More important than anything else, protect Kayla…_

Tears started to stream down each of their faces. More screams rang out in a nightmarish crescendo. Ninjin looked down and wiped the tears from his face.

"If the pirates are in town that means the fight is over. So maybe they left Usopp in the quarry, still alive," sputtered out the kid, desperation thick in his voice. "We can sneak over there while avoiding the village and bring him back!"

The plan was stupid and foolish. Most of all it went against everything Usopp would have wanted. However, it seemed very good to boys who viewed this as the only option, because leaving Usopp wasn't one. Kayla knew the idea was terrible as well but was tempted to go along with it, in the hopes that at least one person she cared about would still live with her.

"Well I'm going!" Ninjin jumped overboard into the shallow water and began wading back to shore. Piiman cursed under breath before doing the same. Tamanegi looked back at Kayla, to overwhelm to have said anything. Finally he jumped over board as well and swam after his friends. The fair haired girl slumped against her seat and prayed she didn't just make a mistake, and also prayed for the safety of Usopp, Merry, and Klahadore.

Usopp took a short cut through the forest and went around the back of the hill the mansion was built on, avoiding any of the pirates currently killing and doing other immoral things to the women of the village. Tears freely poured down his face, the yelling bringing him actual physical pain. When approaching the back yard fence, Usopp speeds up his pace before clearing the structure entirely. The artificial adrenaline coursing through him making it feel as though anything was possible. This being fact punctuated when instead of trying the back door, Usopp combat rolled through the window.

"Merry! Merry!" Usopp began franticly running in and out of rooms before finally stumbling over Merry's slumped body on the floor. Five deep cuts grooved into his back. _Damn! I was too late!_ Knowing time was of the essence, Usopp was about to hightail it back to the ship, but noticed the subtle rise and fall of Merry's back. He was alive. Unconscious, seriously injured, but alive. The wannabe captain bent down and pulled the butlers arm over his neck, dragging him up quickly. Merry's weight might have been a problem, but with the extra adrenaline in his blood, Usopp was just full of miracles. He would have dragged Merry back to the hind door if not for the front door being opened.

Quickly Usopp bolted upstairs with Merry, just as the door opened and Kuro strolled in. The ex-pirate's keen eyes were quick to notice that the damned butler was missing from the floor. He pushed his glasses up before dashing upstairs in less than a second. Pulling opening Kayla's door, Kuro ran in to see Usopp leaving out the window. Or would have seen him had it not been for him running into the clear scotch tape at his eye level. It took him by surprise to such an extent that – to his shame – he stumbled backwards and tripped, back slamming against the hallway wall.

Mentally congratulating himself for that improvised trap helped to distract Usopp from the fact he nearly broke his legs by straight up jumping out a second story window with a full grown man on his back. Even now as he left through the back gate and made his way to the other side of the island, his legs screamed in protest. _Damnit, I think the drug is wearing off._

Back in Kayla's Mansion, Kuro was visibly losing his shit. Jango stood a safe 5 yard distance, even if the ex-pirate could easily cover that distance in a instant. There was no time to guess where the butler might have taken her. He needed answers now. _If pirates were attacking then he would take her off isla-_

"I'll be back with the girl."

Then in a flash, Kuro disappeared.

* * *

In the woods on the far side of the island, Usopp made his way to the Going Merry, out of breath and quivering in pain. The pulsing of his head wounds had made a vicious comeback, making each jarring step sound out like thunder in his ear drums.

Finally, he came to the small beach clearing and saw the little ship still sitting on the water. A rustling on his back alerted him that Merry was waking up finally. There would be no time to catch the butler up now, no, Kuro would realize their position sooner or later since this was the only way off the island. He had taken the liberty of moving the ship from its original position however, which would throw off the pirate long enough.

Being the pessimist he was, Usopp had considered everyway this plan could go wrong and made a plan with as little risk as possible. Well, as little risk to his friends as possible. It only took a few seconds of wading in the water to reach the Going Merry, and climb up the rope net, whist Merry still being on his back. When he finally collapsed on deck, a great sigh of relief sounded out of him. _It had worked. Thank God._

Kayla knelt beside him and pulled him close. "Oh Usopp, I'm so glad you made it!" Through blurred vision, Usopp saw she had tears in her eyes. "Oh…Oh my God, Usopp! Your head!"

The liar grinned. "Just a flesh wound. Check on Merry while the Usopp Pirates raise the sails," he muttered out, attempting to sound like a badass.

However Kayla's face took on a grim expression, leaving Usopp feeling very uneasy. "They went out looking for you."

The boy's body awakened from its metaphorical grave, lifting off the ground of its own will. He wouldn't leave them behind. Not while still breathing. Not even bothering to hear more, Usopp leapt over the side of the railing and into the water, not noticing that Merry was awake now.

"Usopp! Come back to the ship!"

He was too focused to hear or care. He would not leave-

Then the three friends emerged from the trees and began running towards the beach. Thank goodness they were safe.

"Captain! Captain! Captain!" They each had tears in their eyes. "We thought you were dead! When we heard the-"

A figure dressed in all black appeared behind the smiling children. Arms crossed, claws out, and a twisted grin spread across his face. _No…_ The arms raised high in the air. The blades glinting in the sunlight. _No…_ Despite Kuro's speed, everything went in slow motion. _No…_ Till the day he died, Usopp would blame himself. Too slow to draw his slingshot. Too exhausted to even move forward an inch. Too damn worthless to save his friends. NEVER again would he call himself captain.

The blades tore them to ribbons right before eyes. So quick he doubted they felt any pain. Everything was strangely muted. Someone was screaming loudly. Usopp didn't even realize it was him, even with the burning in his throat.

Kuro looked him dead in the eyes and gave him an image that would last forever. Suit stained red. Face spattered in life fluid. He lifts up a gloved hand, grins a smile that would shake a demon, and licked the blood off one of his knifes. Licked Usopp's FRIENDS blood off his knife. Kuro took one step forward, smile still present.

Usopp hears an explosion behind him, despite it sounding like he's underwater. Because of the close range at which the cannon was fired from the ship, Kuro barely had enough time to move backwards. It would have hit him if the cannon had been aimed two inches to the left, but it hit the sand with a loud ' _thunk_ ' right in front of him.

"Miss-"

An explosion engulfed the entire beach sending sand and rocks in all directions. A raging fire was left as well. No surprise considering the sand had been soaked in gas.

 _Okay, if you see pirates coming towards the beach, I want to fire the cannon. I already loaded it with a special cannon ball, aimed it, and shorted the fuse. It's the final line of defense in case something goes wrong. It should buy enough time to leave the islands waters…_

The last thing Usopp remembered before blacking out was thunderous drumming assaulting his brain, and hands pulling his body towards the ship.

* * *

Luffy knocked on Smokers door before walking inside. He was confronted by a wall of smoke, so thick he could barely even see the marine seated behind a brown wooden desk. There was a solitary chair in front of the desk, which including the desk itself and the chair Smoker was sitting in, accounted for all the all the furniture. There was door behind the captain, which probably led to his lodging area.

Smoker looked less than happy to see the one eyed man. Then again he always looked less than happy. Luffy shut the door behind him and sat down, attempting to defuse the tension with a smile that came out looking a little hysterical.

"Nice office."

"Budget cuts."

"What?"

"What are here for," grumbled out Smoker, adding a third cigar to his mouth. Luffy kept smiling like a mad man. He was vaguely sure this was how two men of the same rank spoke to each other.

"I want to ask a favor." Smoker looked up with the same angered expression, but waited to hear Luffy out.

"First off, got any cigarettes?"

Smoker raised an eyebrow slightly. Deciding to be obliging this time, Smoker reached into his lower desk drawer and pulled forth a small metal case. He opened it and placed the container of cigars in front of Luffy.

"All I got are cigars."

"Good enough," rejoiced Luffy, clapping his hands together. Reaching in, he grabs four, stuffing three into his jacket pocket and placing the fourth in his mouth. He didn't smoke clearly. Never had the chance to develop that habit, but Smoker seemed to enjoy it a lot. The rest were for Sanji, who had a pack of ruined cigarettes in his pocket. _When in Rome…_ Channeling heat through the object in his mouth, Luffy managed to light the cigar without touching it.

"Thanks. I forgot to re-stock before leaving the last island," lied Luffy through his teeth. "So I'll be taking that civilian currently in your sick bay, when he recovers that is."

Smoker, still eternally stuck with the same expression stared down the fellow captain. "Why is that? I honestly do not care either way, but I do wish to know your reasoning."

"Simple," spoke Luffy through a puff of smoke. "He wishes to come with me and I'm more than happy to accommodate. It also just so happens that he is a cook, a position my ship needs to be filled. He will make a good stand in until one can fill the empty spot."

Smoker stared at the wall behind Luffy for a few minutes, expelling smoke like a signal fire. Slowly the room began to become engulfed in smoke once again. Luffy nearly spoke up but his Observation screamed that an attack was coming. Reflexively, his armament enhanced hand shot out and caught a punched aimed for his face.

"So you know Haki and possess a powerful Logia."

Luffy's eye took on a dangerous glint. "May I ask what that was about?"

 _ **Burn Him**_

Luffy's head whipped around and looked at the door, only to see nothing. That voice. He hadn't heard it in a while. It was similar to the voice that told him what his devil fruit was when he ate the Gum Gum fruit. Only this one only pleaded for destruction.

"Captain Luffy, are you one of the marines sent to help in the pirate purging?"

Luffy turned back around to face the only other in the room. Purging? Wasn't that the thing Firmen and the others told him about when they briefly went through recent events of the last 9 years?

 _ **It would be so easy**_

"Umm, you got me?" From what he had heard, the pirate purging hadn't made it to the East Blue since it started in the Grand Line and went from strongest sea to weakest. It started about 7 years ago, around the time the Warlord system was abolished.

"So it has finally begun here as well." For the first time during this conversation, Smoker face took on a different expression. A solemn expression. "You know, I never wanted this to happen. My whole life up until the year the new Fleet Admiral took charge, I believed in Justice and believed that the Navy was the place that could enforce such Justice. But now? I don't know why ever believed that anything made by humans could be perfect."

Luffy stared at him in silence. Even the damn voice in his head stopped. Smoker looked at the kid and started chuckling to himself, putting out one of his cigars into an ashtray.

"Look at me, I sound like a damn Revolutionary. Is that all you wanted Luffy?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then get out my office."

Luffy nodded and stood from his seat, leaving out the door without a second glance back. Turning left, he walked through the short hallway that led outside. A strong breeze met his face, along with the sounds of cheering and clapping. Confused Luffy walked over to the railing and looked over at his own ship, where some sort of betting match had started.

"I'm not saying female swordsmen are incompetent. I'm just saying you're incompetent," stated Zoro humorously, as if that wasn't as or more insulting. Some of the marines around him that made up the circle of onlookers began booing, claiming their lieutenant could whoop ass.

"I'll make you eat those words, along with my blade," claimed Tashigi, drawing her sword and taking a sparing stance. Zoro's grin widened.

"Those sound like fighting words. I can't promise you'll leave without a scratch if you and I clash swords," says Zoro calmly, only drawing his Wado Ichimonji. "I doubt I'll need all three to beat you."

The crowd explodes at Zoro's words, lots of Ooo's and Ahhh's. Both swordsmen take starting positions before letting lose.

Zoro casually blocks the sideways swipe of Tashigi's blade before quickly stepping into her guard. Once there he does nothing, simply leaving the message that he could have gotten in an attack if he so pleased. The proud female sword wielder takes a quick step back and reforms her original stance.

"Is that all you got glasses? I expected more after that big talk."

Chars – who has apparently taken up the mantle of Zoro's hypeman – starts shouting like Zoro just dropped the greatest diss track in East Blue History.

"OOOOHHH! OOOOHHH! YOU WERE BAD 5 SECONDS AGO! NOW LOOK AT CHA!"

Firmen had to put a hand on the kid before he completely lost it.

Meanwhile the fight continued, although Zoro was on the offensive this time. He kept Tashigi on her feet, attacking with quick jabs and thrust instead of broad strokes. Anytime she tried to counter with a pivot, or shuffle, Zoro simply adjusted his guard like and absolute pro. Tashigi attempted a fast sideways slash that Zoro dodged and ran Wado across her in an upward strike, apparently missing his mark. This gave the girl a chance to move quickly around his guard and swipe at his annoying face, leaving a scar on his cheek.

The Tashigi fan club gave a throaty cheer from the peanut gallery. She gave a triumphant smile, basking in the small win. Something was wrong though. He was grinning a shit eating grin as well. He still wasn't taking any of this seriously! Giving a small battle cry, she went in with renewed vigor and confidence. Each strike was a fast jab, leaving no openings. Zoro, blocked each strike and lured her into confidence before doing his final move.

"One sword secret technique…"

Out of nowhere, he parried her next strike hard, causing her guard to open briefly. Then within the next second he was behind her, sheathing his sword.

"…WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!"

And like a magic trick, Tashigi's clothes fall to pieces, leaving her in only panties.

First, a silence…then the single loudest yelling to ever be made by anything ever. The group surrounding the two has literally lost their shit. Some guy even passed out. Tashigi screams and quickly covers herself, dropping her sword in the process, before running back to her ship. Not even noticing Luffy on her way to her bedroom. She was in such a hurry that she left her dignity behind with her sword.

Back with Zoro, he's currently being crowned king of all bro's everywhere. Even the Tashigi supporters are trying to touch him in hopes of claiming some awesome for themselves. Chars – who is in tears of joy – seems to be holding on to the swordsman, attempting to hold him back. Hold him back from what Luffy doesn't know. Hell, Chars probably doesn't even know. Now it seems Chars is trying to drape a purple robe over Zoro…

"How! Tell us how my King," yells Chars beside Zoro.

Zoro grins. "Non-stop training. But I don't think you guy would be up for…"

Within seconds, the men are lined up in perfect formation and ready to do anything asked of them. Even Smokers marines seem to want the training.

"First, downward strike! Sideways strike! Upward Strike!" The orders keep coming, but so hyped from the battle, none seem to tire. Eager to learn from the master.

Well, that had to be the most interesting thing Luffy saw for a while. Or at least today. Deciding not to intrude on that party, Luffy went to go speak with Sanji again and drop off the cigars.

Jango was sat on one of Kayla's couches, waiting for Kuro to come back with the girl. Some of the goons were still out having fun so when the door opened, Jango knew it was his boss. Turning to the door, his words caught in his throat.

Kuro's suit was completely gone, leaving a burned and blistered bare chest on display. His pants were not better, basically rags clung to his legs. Those shoes he had been so proud of were both gone, along with one of his gloves. Half of Kuro's face was burned, including his hair, which was still smoldering. Though somehow the pirate didn't seem all that bothered.

"We're leaving Jango."

"Wh…yes sir!" Jango thought better than to ask what happened and quickly left to retrieve his men. Kuro lifted a hand and adjusted his glasses, which had no actually glass in the frames anymore.

"I underestimated you Usopp, but that won't happen again. And when I finally get to shred you to pieces…it will be marvelous."

One Thousand Plan Kuro left the house and began making his way to the ship. It would be no good if they couldn't catch up with Going Merry.

* * *

 **A/N: It's done. Smoker reveals a little about the current state of the world. New Fleet Admiral? Pirate Purging? No more Warlords? I wonder how Dawn Island could have caused such ripple effects.**

 **Hmm…I think Usopp will be different to say the least. Can't say I'm not exited for Usopp v Kuro round 2. Next chapter we get a glimpse of our favorite Navigator.**


	7. The Dream of Pirates is Dead?

**A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm back earlier than usual for a new chapter. Reason being is that I've decided to try and update this story about every two weeks. If I don't stay on schedule casually send me a death threat and I'll be back to work in no time.**

 **Oh, some people asked about the Warlords and how they are even coping right now. Well some are defiantly doing better than others. That's all I'll say.**

 **Other note, I started school again and the homework has been…**

 **Well no need to talk about that, or the fact I should be doing that right now. Oh, also I tried to give Arlong a little more feeling as a character. Some fanfictions I've noticed paint him as a black and white villain, when that rarely is the case in reality. Anyway, my spill is done.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

The dream of pirates is dead.

The last pirates that were not in with the four emperors or hiding, were the weaklings in that called the East Blue home. Ones barely even worth the Navy's time or effort. The strongest of these East Blue warriors was Arlong, a fishman that over the last couple of years had tried his hardest to fad out of the public conscious. Arlong was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them.

He seemed to be the only East Blue pirate to realize that the pirate purging would eventually come here. Would eventually track them all down…and would eventually publically execute all of them. The Fleet Admiral had said: "A pirate death that isn't public is a death wasted." The terrible thing was he wasn't exactly wrong. New pirates had become completely nonexistent in the last 7 years. Each town and city had been fitted with a video den den mushi so that no one would miss the nearly daily executions. The marines also began killing people who didn't even commit high level crimes. Anything as small as petty thief could be terms for death.

Plus if this wasn't bad enough, the marines had become increasingly more powerful and more abundant. Each marine (excluding those in the South and East Blue) was trained in Haki from day one. Most who had been marines for over 2 years were as strong as any 50,000,000 beri bounty pirate. But this growth had not come with cost.

Many people, even ones within the marines disagreed with what the Navy had turned into. Some silently despised them, but other fled to the protective embrace of the Revolutionaries which had gained a following that could match the Navy. Their skill also rivaled if not surpassed the improved marines. The war currently being waged in the Grand Line between the two super powers was bloody and intense. In fact the Blue Seas were points of contentions. South Blue had basically been lost to the Navy and was entirely Revolutionary territory. West and East were still very much marine control, although North Blue was a special case. Two years ago, partial control was handed over to Germa 66 in exchange for their complete support.

Anyway, what with the world descending into madness, armies colliding, and even paradise becoming worse than the New World, it can make a proud guy feel very small. Arlong use to be a man…fishman… full of dreams, hopes, and aspirations. Racist and an asshole maybe, but he did have feelings. Rare it is to find someone with heart of made from pure bedrock. I might even go as far as to say that person doesn't exist. Point being, Arlong wasn't immune to the depression that comes with having a dream deferred. But in his case, it festered like a sore on his soul, sagged like a heavy load, but never exploded. Just rested where his heart use to be.

It started slow like most things. Leafing through the newspaper each day. Seeing the news that slowly got worse and worse. It took a while before the realization sunk in. He would never conquer the Grand Line. No matter how good Nami's charts were, it would be an impossible task. An impossibility. That had been a hard enough realization as it was, but the awareness that he would be hunted down eventually had drove him into paranoid madness. No more Nami leaving the island, no anyone leaving the island for anything except the absolutely necessary.

Anything that could be used as a distraction was used as a distraction. A river of the hardest alcohol possible, sex, and tears. Speaking of, Nami lifted herself from between the fishman's legs and wiped her mouth, spitting to the side.

"Okay you're done. Can I go?"

Arlong barely even responded. Just weakly waving her away while reaching for another bottle of sake. The girl walked out of his room with little dignity she had left. Arlong called out and told her that it would be her sister's turn tomorrow. He didn't wait for a response and downed more sake that for the life of him had been harder yesterday. He could have also sworn that sex use to be pleasurable. In all honesty, the only reason he continued this trade off of the women on this island was because it gave him at least some feeling of power. When it started his men presumed that they would be able to get some the action as well, which he didn't allow. The husbands and caregivers of these women had actually tried to oppose it, as if they had some power over a fishman. It only took a few examples for everyone to get it through their thick skulls that this was happening whether anyone liked it or not.

When Nami had been first taken, Genzo attempted to rise up and fight. After Genzo was burned to death and consumed, all resistance stopped.

Arlong was a no fool. He knew his time was coming. Lately there had been a certain tension in the air, like the end was quickly approaching. If he had saw the newspaper that day, he might have left the island entirely and attempted to swim towards fishman island, but with a slight of hand and a little distraction, Nami made sure the East Blue News never met his eyes. As the girl walked out of the base towards her and Nojiko's house, she thumbed through each article with intense focus – though it was really just the front page that kept drawing her gaze.

" **Breaking News: Unnamed Marine Captain reduces Don Krieg's fleet to ash!"**

A laugh nearly slipped from Nami's lips. It seemed the purging had finally come to the East Blue, and if Nami had her way Arlong would not know until the ships landed on the beach. This is what everyone in the village was waiting for, though the fishman didn't even realize Nami had been getting information back to everyone. Just a little longer. A few days and the nightmare would finally end. NO ONE escaped the purge.

 _Looks like you're days are finally counting down Arlong. And I can't wait to watch you burn._

As she walked through town, many looked at her with pity filled eyes. It wasn't exclusive for Nami however – any women walking away from Arlong Park got the same mournful look. Although Nami and Nojiko was the fish's personal favorite, so they got the biggest pity party in the town.

It wasn't even that bad anymore, not like when it started two years ago. Back then it had been rough, raw, and freaking _hurt._ Now, Arlong barely moved and the thief got to choose what happened usually because the pirate didn't care. Which meant they she hadn't had to have actual sex with him for the last six months. Just blow and hand jobs, which were manageable and didn't leave her feeling so…used.

 _Just a few more days._

Instead of walking directly to the house, she took a detour towards where the cliff over looked the sea. A wide open expanse she hoped to explore one day. On this cliff was two graves laid side by side – one with a tangerine placed next to the marker and the other with a pinwheel stuck into the soft dirt. Nami sits down at next to the two modest graves and places the newspaper in front of her.

"Looks like the nightmare is almost over. I'm sure you'd say it's about time Bellemere. Oh and Genzo you'd better be treating my mom right, or I'll never forgive you."

In her head she could almost see Genzo sputtering out a defensive response, angry at the thought he would hurt Bellemere, while her mother just laughs at the antics.

 _Damnit Bellemere! Raise these girls right!_

 _Genzo relax, they're just being kids. Nami apologize._

 _I'm sorry sir, I can repay you…any way you want *wink*._

 _Wha- What did you just say!_

 _Hehehe…_

The ex-thief let out a sigh. Yea, that's probably how it would go. Getting up, she walked away from the cliff edge and made her way to the house. Walking inside, she saw her sister had already started on dinner for both of them. A stew of some sort? Either way it smelled heavenly to her drained body.

"How was it," ask Nojiko, turning around and wiping her hands on a green apron. Those eyes…reminded Nami of a concerned parent. Although she probably gave a similar look when it was her sister's turn to service Arlong and she cooked dinner.

"It was fine I guess. The fish might as well have been asleep. But that isn't the good part. Check this."

Nami tosses the newspaper on the small table between her and her sister. Nojiko quirks an eye brow and picks it up, expression becoming surprised at the front story. Pages are quickly flipped in rapid succession until the news has been soaked up like a sponge. The older girl started to become slightly teary eyed, but quickly brushed off said emotion.

"It's here."

Nami smiled moved to embrace her sister, who took the gesture with full stride. Both females nearly breaking down into tears.

 _A little longer. A little longer_

* * *

 **Somewhere in the East Blue**

* * *

 _Run Luffy! Get to the cave!_

 _I'm coming! I thin-_

 _WATCH OUT!_

 _BOOOOOM_

…

 _A-Ace, thanks for…A-A-AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!_

Luffy's head shot up, half his body already in flame form. Looking around the room, he couldn't see Ace or lava. The hole in his head ached with phantom pain, the memory of his eye being burned, liquefied, and evaporated was still very present in his mind. Looking around, Luffy realized that he was in the infirmary of Smokers ship beside Sanji's bed. Guess he fell asleep.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only who should be having nightmares."

Luffy looked over to meet Sanji's gaze. He looked a lot better from two days ago. Most of his bandages had been taken off and the color had returned to his skin. In another day it looked like he would be able to be taken off life support and move to their ship. The doctors kept complaining that Sanji was healing 5 times faster than a normal human and needed to be studied, but their arguments fell on deaf ears.

"Hehe, guess you're right. You doing okay Sanji? Need anything?"

The cook rolled his eyes at Luffy's concern and stared off into the dark corners of the room, deep in thought. "Oi Luffy, got any more of those cigars?"

The fake marine captain nodded and handed him rolled stick of tobacco. Once placed in Sanji's mouth, Luffy focused heat on the end until it lit. Sanji took a deep drag before blowing out a large plume of smoke.

"That's one hell of a power you got on ya. Must make fighting pretty easy."

Luffy considered this and eventually shrugged. "I guess. Still don't think I could beat my Gramps though. Looking back that guy was some sort of monster. Which is weird considering what he let happen to him."

"What happened to him?"

Luffy looked down. "You know when I set off, he was one of the people I was going to kill. I made myself stronger so that I could kill him, just because I blamed him for what happened to me and my brother. Turns out I didn't have the whole story. Now there is only one person that will be killed by me. The one responsible for burning a hole through me and Ace."

Sanji's curled eyebrows rose, but he didn't comment despite his not getting an answer. Instead continuing to inhale smoke. Was comforting to know that someone could relate to what had happened to him. Hell, from the bits and pieces Luffy brought up, worst might have happened. Did little to soothe his pain – which still ravaged his soul like a cornered dog – but to be consulted by something over than empty pity was nice. Empathy had its place, but sympathy could never be replaced.

"You know Luffy, your pretty good for a marine."

"Hehe, yeah, sure. Okay Sanji, I'm going to head back up. Get some rest."

Luffy stood up, gave the cook a wide smile, before heading out into the hallway. On the way back to the deck, the captain's nerves grinded each time he walked past a marine. The white uniforms giving him Vietnam-esque flashbacks of his island getting carpet bombed. The dark corridors of these hallways didn't exactly help. It almost felt like he was beginning suffocated by smoke. Finally opening the door that led outside helped clear most of the unwanted tension.

Looking around, he noticed the marines outside training with Zoro, Firmen, and Jackson. Most were currently blindfolded while Firmen tried to hit them with a broom handle…hey whatever worked. If that's how it's done in the Navy then it must have some efficiency. Chars and three others were learning more advanced swordplay from Zoro. Chars even seemed to be trying to be learning three sword style, though his strength didn't seem to adequate, much to his dismay.

"Glad to see their getting along."

On Smoker's ship – the one he was currently on – the marines were also training hard under Tashigi's instruction, who appeared to be some sort of crazed slave driver at the moment. Sword out, glasses tinted, fist clenched. Her men had been doing pushups since late last night and on into this morning. Each time someone stopped, the flat of her blade whipped down across their back.

"Faster! Faster you testosterone fueled morons!"

Okay then. Luffy couldn't help but wonder if this was because of her embarrassment at the hands of his first mate yesterday. Eh, who knows? What he did know was that if someone didn't stop this one of these guys would surely die.

…

Not his problem. Leisurely strolling past the crying and quivering grown men, he walked back onto his ship.

"Hey guys."

"Hello sir!" Firmen saluted in standard fashion, causing the others to quickly fumble into a salute as well. The gesture brought small smile to Luffy's face. Silly in his eyes to do such a thing.

"At ease. So what are you training in right now?"

Confusion danced across Firmen's face for quick second before it vanished faster than it came. "We are training in Observation Haki. I would think someone as competent in the field would see the usual training method. If I may ask, how were you trained?"

Oh yea, Jackson had mentioned that most marines outside the East and South Blue were trained in whatever Haki was. So apparently he had it?

Luffy was about to ask for clarification but sensed an incoming attack. Blurring with speed, he twisted out the way of a sledge hammer and sent a fireball towards the attacker. Jackson rolled out the way of the attack and lifted both hands in surrender quickly, least be killed. Seeing it was one of his own, Luffy lowered his hand.

"Sorry for the attack Captain, but you seemed confused as to what Firmen was talking about. Haki is the thing that just warned you about my attack."

Oh! That was the thing they were talking about. "Okay I get it now. I thought everyone had that though?"

Firmen looked over at his friend and seemed to have a mini telepathic conversation before looking back to his captain. "Sir, developing Haki without training is incredibly rare. Can I ask how you did so?"

Luffy put a hand under his chin and pondered. "I'm not really sure. For some reason after I lost my eye, I couldn't judge distances quite right anymore and kept falling down each time I walked. After about two years of that hell, I slowly started to know where to place my feet because I knew where everything was before even seeing it. That could be it I guess."

Firmen nodded with his eyes closed. It made since he guessed, that he would develop it out of necessity, though it was still very rare. Better the Fleet Admiral didn't hear about this or else there will be a lot of one-eyed marines walking around. He didn't even put pass the Fleet Admiral to make each marine remove it themselves. A test of loyalty. Hehe, fuck that guy.

"Well that explains that, but what about Armament Haki, the thing you used to harden your flames into shape."

"Oh, that stuff. Well my Gramps had it and I intentionally was going to try and kill him, so I thought I better make my fist as hard as his. Then I just kept punching the ground and rocks while imagining armor around my fist until something happened. Took about 6 months though."

Firmen nodded again, satisfied with Luffy's answers. Maybe he could come up with a good training method with this new information. Happy to have help – if even a little, Luffy tipped his straw hat to the group and walked over to where Zoro was sparing with three other men. Chars, Andrew, and Lax were swinging their blades around, forward, and backwards all in the pursuit cut Zoro at least once. No such luck however.

The man actually only had one sword drawn – Luffy had yet to see true three sword style – so it must not have been that hard a fight. But that wasn't what impressed the captain. It was the teamwork the three other men had that was truly impressive. Though their blades slashed with little refinery, they never hit each other. Each time one of their swords clattered against Zoro's, the others swooped in so that Zoro couldn't counter attack and was forced to block. It certainly made up for the lack of skill they held individually.

Chars, obviously brains of the attack, kept shouting out demands like "jab lower" or "aim for his shoulders." He brandished two sabers, though he probably would have been better off with one. His stamina and strength nowhere near enough to keep that up, yet he pressed on. The three had sweat rolling off them in waves, each strike weakening until with one swift swing, Zoro knocked away each of their blades, ending the spar.

"Good job guys," that real improvement from last time, commended the moss haired sensei. All three marines glowed under the praise as if it had come from their own mother. Zoro dismissed the three and they went to rest until it was time for more training. Luffy watched them leave before walking up to the swordsman.

"I'm impressed Zoro. Were they that adept when you started?"

Zoro chuckled a little. "Nope. But they're quick learners, eager too. I'm definitely not a teacher, so I take no credit."

Luffy chuckled a little to himself as well, though quickly became serious at his friends question. "Hey Captain, are we marines now or what?"

"Hmm, good question. We've certainly have been doing a lot of marine work and acting. Also this ship might as well be considered a Navy ship under new management, but still Navy. Eh, we could strike it out, but I think it would be a shame to lose this crew."

"What then? Turn their heads to the golden brick road of villainy?"

Luffy closed his one eye in thought while subconsciously touching the brim of his hat. "Hmm, I do really like this jacket."

Zoro's brain died and rotted at the comment. _Is he hinging this decision on fashion?_

Luffy looked back up again, apparently done with this most intensive thought session. "Well I made a promise that I would be Pirate King and I'm not willing to go back on it. But after being caught up on some world affairs, starting out being pirate without allies would bring death and a few other horsemen knocking on the door. So I say we stay the course!"

"Stay the course? That implies you have a plan?"

"You could say that. Anyway, I don't even think the crew would be a problem. They surely know I'm not a true marine and yet they have not tried to alert anyone. Pretty amazing considering all the opportunities. Doubt it would even be considered contentious."

Zoro folded his arms and nodded. This guy was crazy. This situation was crazy. But then again, so was his dream. So the swordsman kept nodding – nodding in agreement.

* * *

 **On the Going Merry**

* * *

Usopp eyes felt as heavy as steel shutters, and his effort to open them was a task of vanity. Sitting up on the soft surface, he used his hand to wipe at face and remove the gunk from his eyes. Finally able to partially see, he looked around the dark room. His body was laying on a surprisingly soft bed with pink sheets, the area seemed fully furnished with a desk, bookshelf, bar, table, and chest.

He went to rub his hair, but recoiled when his head exploded in a full barber shop quartet of pain. Now it he finally seemed to notice that his whole body ached down to his bones. His biceps burned like hell in summer, making each movement a burden of grueling proportions. Each heart beat thumped behind his eyes in a deep bass tempo. Dear lord what had happen to him? Even as he tried to cry out, a small whisper only was pushed from his raw vocal cords.

Well, forget trying to figure out what's going on. If this torture was anything to go off of, he was lucky to be alive.

So Usopp writhed in pain, waiting to either pass out or die. Either one seemed preferable at the moment, but neither would happen. Soft – nearly angel like – hands rested on Usopp's head and positioned him in a partial siting up position. Two pills were placed in his mouth along with blissful water, which was swallowed down greedily. His throat could have been mistaken for Alabasta at this point, and the water like long awaited rain.

The hands gently rocked him back and forth until the pain began to subside. The feeling of his pain creeping away to the edge of his subconscious only leaving a dull ache was almost euphoric. Shivering in pleasure, his blood shot eye's flickered open easily this time and was met with the sight of an actual angel. Her blond hair tickled his face, and her smile overpowered the darkness with natural ease.

 _So I did die and go to heaven. Eh, not so bad all things considered._

"Usopp."

 _Wow, this angel knows my name. Guess God sent her. Thanks big guy._

"Usopp, can you hear me. It's me, Kaya."

"K-K-Kaya…" his voice croaked out. Sounded like a toad tried swallowing nails. This name was familiar however. _Think Usopp! You can't embarrass yourself in front of the other angels so soon. Second chance to finally be cool. Kaya…oh! Wait did she die to…Wait…_

A muffled sob came out of Usopp, remembrance of what happened crashing down with weight that would make the ton ton fruit jealous. His eyes watered but no tears came. No surprise since he had cried long into the next day while asleep. Kuro killing the Usopp Pirates kept replaying on repeat in his head. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

"I-I failed…"

Wet drops hit his face, causing him to look up. His angel appeared to be crying as well. A look of pure grief on her face. That's right, they had both lost a lot. He, his friends and community. She, her surrogate parent, home, and community. Both she had lost so much more than just that. Forever gone was the memory she would have of Kuro when he had been her butler. Those memories would be forever tainted with knowledge his caring attitude, protectiveness, and love had been some elaborate lie. Surely Merry would have told her by now. In a way, Kuro killing the children was traumatic to him as it was for her.

So they cried together.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, looks like Nami's living situation isn't exactly ideal, but her spirit is as strong as ever. That's my girl. We more information about how Luffy developed Haki and more information about how people feel towards the fleet admiral and marines in general. We also see that Luffy isn't exactly comfortable around marines, but deals with it pretty well. Poor Usopp. Don't worry about him though, that pity party will end soon. And Tashigi…oh Tashigi…**

 **Wait! I actually decided to try something new and write an Omake! It's kinda like an outtake for the story, though usually isn't considered cannon. Saw others doing it and thought it could be fun. Tell me what you think.**

* * *

 **Omake: By Gmann**

* * *

"So, what do you guys think?"

Luffy scratched his head and tilted it sideways in befuddlement.

Zoro's eyebrow raised. The racket he had heard earlier now explained perfectly.

Jackson simple placed his head into his hand and sighed.

"Firmen, what I'm I looking at right now," asked Luffy, not sure to laugh or be disappointed.

Apparently immune to the stares he was being given or logic for that matter, Firmen kept grinning like some sort of mad man. "Isn't it obvious? It's my new method to train Haki at twice the speed! We'll be an efficient fighting machine in no time!"

Haki training? Okay, that explained why all the men on the ship were wearing blindfolds.

"Why do they keep throwing punches into the air? Wait, no. Why are they even walking around in the first place," asked Zoro, as stupefied as he was curious.

Firmen's grin grew wider, if that could even happen at this point. "You see, I got the inspiration by what Luffy told me. He couldn't see depth after losing an eye and his body developed Haki to accommodate and to develop Armament, he punched stuff. Right?"

"Okay, that's true," agreed Luffy, still trying to follow.

"So I ordered them to put on blindfolds and punch out in front of them. With all that punching their bond to hit something hard and eventually develop Armament and develop Observation to avoid running into walls."

At that exact moment one of the blindfolded men accidently fell down the stairs, which was followed with several sickening cracks.

"Or to avoid falling down the stairs I guess."

Another marine, swinging his fist wildly, punched other square in the jaw and knocked him out. The accidental attacker also suffered a broken hand.

"I'm sure they'll both be sure to use Armament Haki next time to prevent injury…or Observation I guess. So what do you guys think?"

Luffy appeared to be in deep thought. Brows furrowed in thought, as if this was a close decision. "Hmm, yea looks legit to me. Keep up the work."

Jackson just walked away without a word, to mentally exhausted to even care anymore. He made the mistake of trying to understand the Captain's and Firmen's thought process, which was clearly an effort in insanity. Zoro walked off to find booze, hoping to drown in alcohol instead of idiocy, while also considering joining Smoker's ship.

Speaking of which, a certain newly formed sadist overhead the exchange. Much to the horror of her crew. Tashigi turned around, glasses reflecting and a small smile adjourning her face. A riding crop seemingly appeared out of thin air into her hand. And did she always have steel tipped high heels on? _So they are trying to say their men could be mine blindfolded. We will have to see about that._

"Time to begin our own _intensive_ training."

Seconds later, pained screams filled the air, loud enough to be heard in Louge Town.

* * *

 **Calm Belt, Impel Down**

Sadi-chan was sitting at her desk reading her latest subscription to "Dom Daily" when a thrill went up her spine and she got a warm filling in her stomach.

 _Huh, wonder what that was about?_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Okay done. Please tell me what you thought or if I should continue this. Also tell me what you thought of the chapter. Till next time.**_


	8. A Meeting Between Future Friends

**A/N: I'm back and on time. Who says I'm not a man of my word? Okay, I got a lot of positive reviews on the last chapter, but also some criticism on how Nami was introduced. One person even unfollowed. To the people upset, I can only say I'll try to do better the next time a character is introduced.**

 **Okay so this chapter was supposed to be the start of the Revenge Arc in this fic but I decide to start that next chapter. If I didn't this would have been twice as long. Oh, this chapter jumps to different perspectives, so be ready for that. I try to not do it as much, but with so many characters it is hard not to. I'm sorry. Once the full crew gets back together I will try to dial them back.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

Nami was a smart girl. Skilled as well. More than anything though, she governed herself through logic and tried to not allow emotions to interfere with a goal. She has had many goals throughout her life as well. Of course the simple goals of child that faded quickly, like the goal of stealing a book from Genzo, and nonsense like that. Sooner than expected though, her goals became far more complex. Steal money to buy back her island – and when she was no longer allowed to leave the island – stay strong for Nojiko, reject the idea of suicide…

Anyway, eventually her main goal was to see Arlong die. Be there when the fish finally kicked the bucket, preferably in the most painfully way. Even the dream of drawing a map of the entire world took a back seat. Though it wasn't like that could ever come true if Arlong was still alive anyway. But as time went on, and hate festered into what could only be described as unadulterated fury, a different side goal appeared. She wanted to be the one to kill Arlong. So badly she wanted to spill his blood that in the rare instances she had good dreams, the pirate was always the focus of it, and it was always his bloodied corpse.

But Nami was no fool. She was and probably never would be as strong as the fishman. Nami doubted she could lift his sword. However, in the days following Genzo's death, she practiced every day with a knife stab. Each day she was quicker on the draw than the day before, until it was a silvery blur cutting through the air. She promised herself that if given the chance, Arlong's throat would be torn out before he could utter a word. The bastard fish wasn't a fool though, she was always checked for weapons before stepping into his chamber, and any other time he was too aware to be killed. If it was going to happen, it had to be in the chamber, where his guard was truly down. Outside his room he still got drunk, but an intoxicated Arlong was still far deadlier than anything else on this island.

So with the knowledge that the purge coming to an island near her, she was getting a little anxious. Was she complaining? Hell no. Still, it would be all her dreams come true if she could kill him herself. Though there were problems to that as well. Arlong kept all the other fishmen in check and weather she liked it or not, it was a protection. She could _feel_ the eyes on her when she walked into Arlong Park. No telling what they would do to her and everyone else if she were to kill the fish. And she didn't want to find out. There was only one fishman she trusted and that was the good octopus Hatchan. Despite having to follow Arlong's orders, he had never lied to her. Not once. And the look he gave her when she left Arlong's room was nothing short of devastated. He had true compassion, which was a fact.

So it was with this knowledge, Nami contemplated what she had just heard the three top men of Arlong say. The moonlight illuminated the faces of each fishman. They each appeared to be tense, like they expected Arlong to appear at any moment.

"So let me get this straight. You want me…to kill Arlong?"

Chew looked at her like she was stupid. "What, you want us to say it twice? Everyone on this fucking island wants Arlong died. He will be the death of us all, and that isn't exactly something a crew strives for. He's lost his purpose, his dream, and will. The only thing the fool still has in abundance is strength. Even together, we would all lose against Arlong in a fight."

"That doesn't explain why you need me. Couldn't you have just poisoned him or killed him while he sleeps?"

Kurobo rubbed his face in frustration. "He's paranoid. Too paranoid. He sleeps with the saw blade in one hand, with the other clinched. I walked into his room one night and before I was fully in, he was already up in defensive form."

The other fishmen nodded. Something still didn't add up here, though. "Why so suddenly? Why now?"

Timidly, Hatchan spoke up. There was a bewildered look in his eyes, as though seeing a ghost, or being threatened by the devil. "I-I…saw the Pirate Purger."

Nami's eyes widened at this information. It was a wonder Hatchan was still alive if their reputation was even half amazing as the papers claimed. The fishman continued.

"H-he didn't even try. He destroyed Don Krieg's fleet with one move, a move that could probably evaporate Arlong Park. It was like looking at someone hold the sun in their hand, or like god spinning a basketball ( **A/N:** If get the reference good on you). Even far away, I could feel the heat…"

Hatchan broke off into some muddled mutterings, saying things like ' _cyclopes'_ or _'eye of the abyss.'_ Chew placed a hand on the octopus's back and patted gently.

"Listen Nami. Hachi over here says that this Navy officer is about a day away. In fact he was probably on his way over here before that idiot Krieg made the mistake of drawing attention. Long story short, after this guy is done tying loose ends, he'll probably swing by here. Everyone has decided to keep Arlong in the dark about this. When he asked Hatchan about the scouting, we gave him the all clear."

Nami shook her head, barely believing this. "But WHY. If you told him, you guys could just leave right now."

Kurobo spoke up again. "Arlong is who their after, not us. He will try to use us as body guards once we get to the Grand Line and things really get hot. I and everyone else has decided to not die for a low-life captain that lost his spine and dignity a long time ago. We all agreed to split up after Arlong is killed. Best chance of surviving."

Nami nodded numbly, finally gaining some understanding. Guess the humans weren't the only ones fed up with Arlong. But that still didn't mean she would agree so easily.

"What about me and my village? With Arlong gone, you could pillage, rape, and kill us without fear."

Chew rubbed his face. "You don't get it, do you? That would just paint a target on our backs the size of Big Mom's ass. We are leaving with minimal damages, and hopefully that will be enough to not be followed. You feel me? We're done. Fucking done. And you can trust us, because the one who benefits from this deal most of all is us."

That made sense. You can trust someone without trusting _in_ them. Trusting a rabid dog to bite wasn't the same as trusting that dog to protect your home. And you could always trust scum to do what's best for numero uno. But she needed one last assurance.

"I want Hatchi to promise nothing will happen to me, my sister, or the village."

"Wh-"

"Do it or no deal."

The octopus fishman look up and stared deep into her eyes. "I won't allow any harm to come to you, your sister, or this village. I swear."

Nami's grin became wide, almost resembling the shark in question. "Then you got yourself a deal."

* * *

 **Somewhere a few miles away in the East Blue**

The Going Merry bobbed up and down on gentle waves. Like a mother rocking a newborn baby. Too bad the scene inside the ship wasn't as pleasant as that simile. Everyone in the dinning/cooking room looked died inside, hollow like a cave.

Merry, Kaya, and Usopp ate in silence. Oatmeal, toasted sandwiches, and tea. All things meant to warm them up. It failed, but can't blame a butler for trying. The atmosphere was thick like a wet fire blanket. No one wanting to breech the subject of what they were supposed to do now. Wasn't like going to Syrup Village was an option. It didn't exist anymore. They kept moving, just in case the Black Cat Pirates decided to give chase. It was currently very early morning, but since everyone was finally cried and slept out, no one was very tired. Well they were actually very tired, but fatigue staved off sleep for now.

Usopp looked by far the worst. His bandaged head still throbbed angrily, each eye was bloodshot to such an extreme someone might think it was his natural eye color. Defined black bags hug below those eyes, seemingly weighting down his entire head with burden. His skin lacked its usual tan and was instead a sickly pale. Even as he lifted the spoon of hot oats to his mouth, Usopp's muscles trimmer with strain, threating to cramp or plain give out at any second. That drugs side effects were no joke. His very being was ravaged with pain, mental being the worst. Each second the Usopp Pirates died anew like a replaying video before his eyes.

Kaya looked slightly better (that's not saying a lot). She seemed to have gotten even sicker than she was back in Syrup Village cooped up in her mansion. Her eyes red and puffy from crying all day and night, body sluggish from getting little to no sleep. Her mind a jumbled mess of random thoughts and tangents, all of which were trying to distract her from what had happened.

Merry hadn't slept period. There was tending to Usopp, tending to Kaya, navigating to god knows where, more making sure Usopp's body didn't fail completely, cooking, tending to his own wounds…

It just hadn't been easy for anyone of them. And if it was easy to be betrayed, watch your friend kill children, watch a psychopath kill your friends, kill other humans, and leave your life long home, then you most likely aren't human.

The silence was finally broken by the loud clacker of a spoon hitting a half empty bowl of oatmeal. A string of curses flow from Usopp while clutching his wrist, waiting for the cramp to pass. Kaya looked at him with concern but made no move to help. Wasn't much that could be done. Merry opened his mouth to say something, anything to relieve the tension, but could come up with nothing. Surprisingly, it was Usopp that spoke up.

"Where are we headed Merry."

"I-I'm not sure. The most important thing was putting distance between us and the island, so I'm not sure of our current position. We should probably head towards Loguetown however and report what happened to the Navy."

"How long will it take you to confirm our location?"

"A while," sighed Merry with a tired expression, "We've been sailing at full mast since leaving. No telling where we are."

Usopp nodded and opened his mouth to take a bite of his sandwich before winching in pain, the deep scars on each cheek stinging like mad. Fuck this. He put the sandwich down and began gently spooning oatmeal into his mouth again.

Merry spoke up again. "I wanted to thank you Usopp. Me and Kaya surely would haven't have survived was it not for you."

The old Usopp would have blushed at the compliment before promptly starting a tall tale. Have claimed that he defeated 1 million New World pirates single-handedly with only a slingshot and one rock. But the old Usopp was defeated and dead. He hadn't uttered a single word about fighting off the pirates since waking. Of course, they hadn't asked, and it wasn't like he was being talkative now. A shame since they could all honestly could have used a distraction.

And then there was knock at the door.

Usopp eyes when wide as he choked on the oatmeal, Kaya screamed despite herself, and Merry quickly went for a kitchen knife and positioned himself in front of the teens. Had the Black Cat's caught them already? Dear lord, it just didn't seem fair. Kaya clutched onto Usopp for dear life while he tried to also be brave for her and push himself forward. He wanted to make sure he would die before she did, and maybe even kill a few of those bastards while he was at it.

There was another knock. "Hey, could you open up? I was taught not to come into a room unless invited…"

Or it could be a vampire, which in that case they just had to wait for the sun to come up and he would leave. This was a kitchen, right? There had to be some garlic and crosses somewhere.

"Who are you," screamed Merry with malice no one knew existed within the normally calm man. His grip on the kitchen knife turning his knuckles white.

"Monkey D. Luffy. Pi…I mean marine captain."

The voice didn't sound abrasive. In fact, it sounded like a teenager's voice. Merry looked behind him at Usopp and Kaya before wrenching open the door and swinging the knife at whoever was behind it. A hand easily caught the attack before the knife could hit. Merry would have struck out with his other hand, but the sight of the white marine jacket stopped him.

"Whoa old man, that was dangerous."

Merry dropped the knife and stumbled backward, falling on his ass. Usopp also stepped back. Hard not to considering this marine captain had a hole where his eye should be. Luffy's expression turned to confusion at their trepidation. He was so used to everyone excepting his appearance without blinking that it never really crossed his mind.

A loud thud made everyone turn towards Usopp, who was looking behind him at the sprawled out form of Kaya. Poor girl couldn't handle the shock.

"Dang. Is that girl okay? Did I accidently use Haki?"

* * *

 **2 Hours later**

Usopp, Kaya, and Merry were each sitting down on beds in the medical bay of Smokers ship. Their wounds had been treated properly and they were recovering nicely. Merry's back was a little stiff after having his injury, but that was it. Kaya had bit more color in her face again after being checked over. Usopp was still laying down actually since his condition was quite bad. He was feeling much better now however with the morphine drip. _Much better._

"So you guys were running from pirates? I hear that loud and clear," spoke a collected Sanji, who had begun to try out his legs again. Still needed the wall for support though. "Well you came to the right ship for that. The captain you met is probably the most power man in the East Blue. And fucking crazy batshit too. He'll take good care of you though."

Luffy walked into the room with a doctor's jacket on, a prescription sticking out of his straw hat, a stethoscope hanging around his neck, a clipboard, and…Tashigi's glasses?

"Like I said, fucking batshit. What's up Cap?"

Luffy looked up from the clipboard in his hand as if he was actually looking over information and smiled at Sanji. They had become rather close over the days.

"Actually Sanji, I'm currently Doctor Captain right now and would appreciate being called as such."

"Whatever you say."

The teen gave a curt nod to the chef before turning back to the other people in the room. Usopp looked the most incredulous of them all, though Kaya and Merry seemed to be in varying states of shock. Almost made them forget about their current lot in life.

"So, help me to understand the situation a little better. Your island was attacked, the long nose one fought them off, and then were able to escape after becoming overwhelmed?"

Usopp looked down. _We weren't all able to escape._

"There is a little more to it than that, but yes. That is a summery of what has happened," explained Merry since no one else was going to do it. Kaya looked faint again at the sight of Luffy.

"Did you kill him?"

"Excuse me," asked Usopp, finally taking part in the conversation.

"Did you get to kill him? The captain of the pirates that murdered your village. Is he dead?"

"I-I…" Usopp faltered and looked away, memories of that day flooding back into his mind. His empty tear sacks stung behind his eyes but produced no tears. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if Kuro was dead or not. That explosion had been more for smoke than anything else. Though he had been standing directly on top of the bomb so the likelihood wasn't that farfetched. But there was a deep feeling of dread, as if this wasn't over. He could almost feel Kuro's eyes watching him. Following him.

"No. He is still alive."

Kaya looked back at him in shock while Merry simply shook his head.

"Well you don't have to worry about him with us," assured Luffy, moving on with his report. "Well before I stole this jacket and clipboard from the actual doctor, he mentioned to take you off morphine Usopp and start you on painkillers. Unless you don't think you'll need them?"

"Hmm, I think I'll take them," responded Usopp, trying not to sound too desperate for those painkillers. Luffy nodded and took a bottle of pills out before tossing them to Usopp, who missed the catch completely.

"Oh yeah, take those twice a day. Any more and you'll become addicted or any less and you'll be riding the pain train."

Geez, those were some pretty drastic extremes. "Er sure I guess," mumbled out Usopp while he crawled out from under the bed after recovering the pills. Luffy looked back at the clipboard as if he actually knew what the technical mumbo jumbo meant. His brows furrowed before looking back up.

"Kaya was it? You still seem to be suffering from some lingering forms of shock. This paper says a lot of bullshit, but the general thing is to just relax. Take a hot shower. I don't know."

"Uhhh…"

Kaya look of partial befuddlement was easily glanced over by Luffy who was already moving on to Merry. Once again, the clipboards true meaning alluded him and he was forced to wing it.

"So you're Marty right?"

"Merry."

"That's what I said. Anyway, your back got slashed up. Worse for wear but alright all things considered. Errr…I don't think you need any painkillers. Just try not to break dance or fight any sea kings and you should be fine."

Merry couldn't tell if Luffy was even being serious. _Fight a sea king?_ "I think I'll be fine if that's the case. Not like I was going to do any of those things anyway-"

"Great! Looks like my role as Doctor Captain have ended. Oh and Sanji, you're free to go. Doctor says it was not only the fastest recovery ever but also that you should be dead. You should feel proud."

Sanji chuckled to himself a little and pushed off the wall. His entire torso was still wrapped in bandages along with his legs, but if he stayed another day in that bed he would lose it. Sanji still was in pain, quite a bit actually, but he sucked it up and pushed on. Zeff would probably wake up from the dead just to come beat his ass if he continued to bitch and moan.

"Heh, good thing too. I want to get some training in before this morning is over. Getting rusty isn't going to do. And don't worry, I will be cooking lunch as well. You guys being forced to eat raw yams is a disgrace to my name as a chef."

"Sweet. I lived off fish and cave berries for 9 years, so I'm good with just about everything."

 _Don't ask. Don't ask. Don't ask…_

"I can't wait for you to meet everyone! Let's go."

And just like that Sanji and Luffy disappeared out the door, leaving the Going Merry crew to mull over whatever that just was. Well two of them at least, while the other's mind had already been made up.

"I like him," spoke Usopp so softly it could almost be a whisper. Kaya cocked her head at her friend in confusion.

"What do you mean Usopp?"

"I said I like him. He has clearly seen and been some terrible things, but his actions show he barely acknowledges it. His scars don't hold him down."

The others thought about this for a while. Kaya being the first to respond. "I think you're right Usopp. Thinking back, I was a little apprehensive because of his eye and that was definitely wrong of me. I hope I didn't offend him…"

"He didn't seem annoyed to me. I doubt he even noticed that you cringed at it."

Merry stayed silent while the two teens kept talking, a small secretive smile. He wasn't sure if the marine captain had done it on purpose or not, but the results remained. Right now, if only for a moment, Usopp and Kaya were not thinking of the tragedy that befell them. It wasn't much, but it was still a small sign of healing. Dwelling on the pass would do nothing but harm. And this marine captain was one hell of a distraction it seemed.

* * *

Luffy and Sanji emerged from the lower decks and took in a deep breath. Luffy because enclosed spaces and him didn't agree, while Sanji had not had fresh air in over a week. The peaceful sounds of swords clashing and birds chirping brought out a lovely atmosphere.

"Hey Sanji, did I sound official enough? I'm not actually qualified to be a doctor you know."

Sanji rolled his eyes and decided to humor the raven. "Could have fooled me." He was rewarded with a wide grin. A grin that didn't fad an inch even as Luffy ducked out the way of a sword swipe where his neck was previously.

"GIVE ME BACK MY GLASSES!"

Sanji – ever aware of danger – moved to a safe distance while Tashigi chased Luffy around the ship wildly swinging her sword to and fro. God speed to anyone not paying attention. The cook couldn't even be bothered to be annoyed, however. One because _girl!_ And two because _holy crap I haven't seen a female in so long_! Truly a good day to be alive.

Avoiding an accidental skewering, Sanji walked across the plank that connected the two ships and stepped foot on Luffy's ship for the first time. No one paid him any attention as they were intent on their training. None of them were familiar except for a certain green haired swordsman, currently sparing against three others. He had come talk to Sanji while still in the recovery bay, but nowhere near the regular schedule of Luffy. Sanji resolved to be nice to Zoro, seeing as he was in the man's debt. He would have gone over to talk, but that training looked pretty intense. Instead, he walked towards the hatch that led to the lower quarters in search of the kitchen.

"To me," shouted Chars to Andrew and Lax. They shuffled towards Chars, huffing and puffing but still keeping a firm grip on their swords. Chars had a regular cutlass in his left hand and a sickle in his right. Lax had a more rapier-like sword and Andrew had a longer than average cutlass. Each man going insane at the fact Zoro still hadn't been forced to draw all three swords to easily defeat them.

"Okay…Formation One," muttered Chars to his two friends. They nodded and put the newly made plan into action.

Chars ran forward and gave a strong jab from his cutlass at Zoro, who knocked it aside while breaking into the man's guard. Zoro then attempted a horizontal slash with Wado that was blocked by Chars' sickle. Acting quickly, Chars brought his sword back around and trapped Zoro's blade between his weapons. It was now that Lax came in from the side quickly and tried to whip the green haired swordsman with his barely visible rapier sword.

Zoro – who had been using both hands on Wado – quickly used his right hand to unsheathe his second sword halfway and block the nimble blade before it cracked across his side like a whip. His eyes looked around to his left side where he expected to see Andrew coming in for his unprotected side, but saw nothing. Zoro turned around just in time to see Andrew vault off Chars' shoulders, long sword raised to the heavens as he maneuvered in mid-air. When he reached his peak height, Andrew reared back and swung with both hands downward as he fell. Seeing the danger of being cut down the middle, Zoro acted quickly.

With movement barely observable, he fully drew his second sword and turned it upward, cutting the tip of Lax's nose and throwing him off guard. Then, with not a moment to spare, he moved three inches to the left and avoided Andrew's downward assault that hit with enough force to rip through the deck. Zoro kicks Andrew while he was open on the side and knocks the breath out of him while swinging his sword at Chars' neck, forcing Chars to release the blade and step back. Lax lunges forward over Andrews crumpled form into Zoro's guard' but is kneed in the stomach before being able to throw any attacks. He is hit across the face with the hilt of Wado sending the marine to the ground with his friend.

A bead of sweat rolls off Chars' face, his eyes flicker to the two laying on the ground. It's just him and Zoro now. Now or never. He crosses his sickle and sword, preparing to use his first special attack. His teacher sees the shift in atmosphere and smiles widely. As a sign of respect, he draws his third sword and takes position.

"Let's finish this Chars. I'm getting pretty thirsty."

"Heh, yeah sensei. Let's end this."

Chars runs at Zoro with his sickle behind his back and sword partially drawn in it's sheathe. Zoro doesn't move at all and closes his eyes, feeling instead of seeing.

"Anpan!"

"Onigiri!"

Chars bounces off his right foot at a slightly off beat angle so that it appears as if he is falling sideways, but at the last moment he twists his body quickly, swinging his sickle out in a wide berth. There is a rasp of steel on steel. Still twisting mid-air past Zoro, Chars then fully draws out his cutlass on the last revolution and swipes at Zoro's side, ending the three part attack. His landing is less than graceful. A loud pop is heard from Chars back when he hits the deck and slides into the railing. _Damn, I missed._

"Good move Chars. But that attack leaves you pretty open."

The young marine looks down at his chest to see two cuts across it. Of course, because this was a spar they were nowhere near as deep as they could have been and nor would they be life threatening. Still stung through. An unscathed Zoro walked up to Chars and helped him up, before also helping up Lax and Andrew. The three stood in a line and saluted while Zoro gave his criticism.

"Good individual effort all of you. Lax, use your superior attack speed to your advantage. That weapon is for quick attacks that wear down the opponent, not power strokes. Andrew, you have a heavy weapon but lack recovery speed to counter. Build more strength in your arms and rely on Lax to cover you. Chars, you have a very weird weapon combination and could be very unpredictable. I'd suggest practice with each individual weapon before using them together again. Overall, the team work was very good but play more in each other's strength if you're going to attack as a team. We'll take a 10-minute break."

The three marines bowed and went off to relax before training would begin again. No one on the ship had really given the match any particular attention, especially considering this was a regular thing. Though one pink haired boy had stars in his eyes.

"Marines are so cool."

Jackson walked up behind Coby's position next to the masked and placed a hand on his shoulder. This action caused the small boy to jump and quickly turn in fear. That fear faded however when his met the humor filled eyes of the large dark skinned marine.

"So I take it you want to be a marine right? Be big and strong?"

Timidly Coby nodded his head.

"Hahaha! Well then I can teach you. But you have to know, being a marine is dangerous work. Are you prepared for that, even death?"

There was no hesitation in his response. After being a slave to Alvida where death could have come at any moment, this could be no worse. Now he could finally up hold justice, become strong, catch Alvida, and have fun while doing it. Honestly, he had always expected marines to have more discipline, but these guys literally never stopped laughing. And that captain was probably the cause.

"I'm ready! Even for death!"

Jackson smiled before tossing his oversized sledge hammer at Coby, knocking the boy off his feet and onto the hard deck.

"Good. First lesson is to become strong enough to lift this hammer."

* * *

As soon as Sanji entered the kitchen, all his woes and pains faded away. The shimmering knives hanging from the wall, the large table top just waiting to have food placed down, a large fridge no doubt teeming with different ingredients that could be made into an infinite amount of dishes. Where to start! One pan, two pan, red pan, blue pan. A chief's paradise.

 _Damn, these guys haven't eaten anything but stew and yams for a week. I better introduce them to true cooking._ His cooking code aside, Sanji wanted to make something nice as thanks for saving him, despite wanting to die earlier. He walked over to the wall of utensils and inspected the knives he would be using.

"Tsh."

They were dull. Like incredibly so. Whoever the previous owner was had not been a true chief. Probably didn't even take pride in each dish served. That would change today. He would have to make enough food to feed over thirty men…psh, the restaurant had more people than that on a slow day. Sanji opened the door of the fridge to find many different types of meat, each holding a special flavor that could be brought out with his skilled hands. The pantries were filled with even more goodies. Spices, herbs, foodstuffs, perseveres, and more.

 _Okay, let's get started._

Usopp, Merry, and Kaya had been keeping up conversation since the Luffy and Sanji's departure. There was actually a fear of letting silence fall again. As soon as the distraction was gone, they would go back to remembering and nothing was worse than that. So they chatted on about their current whereabouts.

"You know, I thought a marine ship would look more official or something."

Kaya giggled. "Okay Usopp, what does official look like then?"

"Uhhh, um…dang I guess you got me there. Hey Merry, what do you think official looks like?"

Merry scratched his antlers in though before shrugging. "I guess it can mean many things depending on who you ask."

"It would look more official if wasn't for all these damn budget cuts."

Everyone turned around to see a gruff looking man with white hair and two cigars hanging from his mouth. He certainly looked like a man in charge, no doubt the other captain. Large shoulders, tall, both eyes; he was basically the opposite of Luffy.

Smoker closed the door behind him before leaning against the wall for lack of a better place to sit. "Okay, so as I understand it, One Thousand Plan Kuro is the pirate that attacked your town. Do you know why he was there?"

And reality came back in a hurry. Each Going Merry crewmember lost the struggling smile they had tried to keep.

"H-He was my butler for many years," stuttered out Kaya, choking on her own words. "But the whole time, he was just after my family's money. He killed all those people f-for my money." The fact Kaya blamed herself was evident, as if she could have done anything.

"I see. Okay, now one more question. "Where were you guys planning to head when you fled?"

Merry spoke up quickly. "We were actually planning to sail to Loguetown before ran into you and Captain Luffy."

Smoker nodded and folded his arms. "That is actually the position of my Navy base, so you are in luck. I will give you an escort there when we depart tonight."

"Thank you, sir."

The captain walked out the room, leaving behind an air of tension so thick a knife wouldn't be able to cut through it. It was all a little too much for Usopp to handle again. So he didn't.

"Well, I'm going up to get some fresh air. Actually, we could all use it I think."

Usopp stood up from his bed and immediately felt light headed. He would have fallen if not for Kaya catching him and letting his body weight rest on hers. She was at least strong enough for that.

"Hehe, thanks Kaya."

She gives a smile and helps Usopp towards the door, happy to help her friend. Even with everything that happened, Usopp can't help but feel a little embarrassed at having to be support in such a way. Merry comes over to his left side and puts Usopp's arm around his shoulder. Together they walk out the door. Now feeling more embarrassed, Usopp decided to use the social crutch he had for years. When his mother became sick, when Kaya lost her parents, it had never failed. Why stop now?

"You know, this reminds me of the time I nearly lost a fight to a three-headed Sea King."

And the small smile on Kaya's face grew.

* * *

Smoker sat down in his office and gave a tired sigh. He had been feeling very tired lately. The Navy seemed the become more corrupt by the day, lives were still being destroyed by pirates, and now it looked like he would be forced to fill out even more paper work once he got back to his base.

"Heh, look at me fretting over nothing. At least things can't get any worst-"

" _Purupurupuru! Purupurupuru!"_

Smoker raised an eyebrow and reached into his desk drawer, pulling out the small den den mushi stored there. He answered the call and raised it to his lips.

"Hello this is Sm-"

" _Smoker! Dear lord, things are bad here! The people have started to up rise and are attempting to over throw the base! What do we do! I-I think I shit myself!?"_

The Navy captain gave out a loud sigh and rubbed his weary face. "I'll be there as soon as possible. Until then radio for help from other captains that are closer and barricade the base."

" _O-Okay I think. I think I can remember that. Okay, over and out…Now where is the off button on this thing?"_

Smoker cuts the call and throws the snail back into the drawer. He runs a hand through his hair and takes out his metal box of cigars. Upon opening it, he finds nothing but lint. The box is soon thrown through the wall of his office.

"Fuck my life."

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, another chapter done. A lot of stuff happened. Usopp and Luffy finally meeting, Sanji up and walking again, Zoro's sparing lessons with Chars and his team, Coby has been integrated into the crew finally, civil unrest in Loguetown…**

 **So what did you think of Chars special move? I'm sure if you noticed, but I named the move after food just like Zoro's is. Anpan means sweet roll and Onigiri means rice ball. Also, he spins midair as a play on the "roll" in sweet roll. And he uses a sickle, which was often used to collect grain for bread. I thought it was a pretty good move, but tell me if I'm wrong.**

 **Okay, thanks to the overwhelmingly positive reviews the Omakes are here to stay. Speaking of, the doctor scene with Luffy started as an Omake, but then somehow worked its way into canon. Guess that's how the biscuit crumbles sometimes.**

* * *

 **Omake by Gmann**

* * *

Usopp, Kaya, and Merry were currently meeting the marines of Luffy's crew. They all seemed slightly more hostile than expected. Guarded looks, weary stares, and outright refusal to acknowledge them. Merry decided to speak up.

"Um excuse me,but did we perhaps offend you in any way."

Hushed whispers went out among the crowd before falling silent. A figure rose in the background wearing a purple cape and green top hat. He had gold-rimmed sunglasses and one white glove on his left hand.

"The offense you speak of is that you believe you can just walk on our territory without dropping those sick moves yo," responded Firmen, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. To him it probably was. Kaya and Usopp looked at him in confusion. However Merry seemed to understand exactly. His eyes hardened and the sky slowly turned black

"I understand. Stay back Kaya and Usopp. This is how conflicts are often settled in the business world. It is actually how I acquired my job as a butler."

Merry grips his shirt and rips it off, revealing his rippling muscles that seemed to pulsate with each breath. He looks Firmen dead in the eyes.

"Drop that beat."

Andrew pulls a tone dial from his pocket and presses the button. The sound of a piano playing can be heard. It's quick key tapping, giving Merry time to mentally prepare. He closes his eyes, feels the song in his veins and waits for that magical moment. And then the beat drops.

It is possibly the loudest, deepest bass in recorded history. The ship and sea shakes as the song continues to play. But everyone barely notices, to enraptured by the butler. He's moving and twisting his feet in ways that make others think he doesn't have bones. Merry then starts using his hands to spin his entire body around before ending it with head spin. To finish it off the butler pushes off the ground and preforms a back flip, contorting his body in the shape of a perfect O mid-air.

"I call this my butler speci- _ackkkk!"_

A horrible ripping sound is heard. Merry drops to the ground in a heap, blood pooling around his crumpled form. Kaya and Usopp scream in terror while Firmen turns his head in shame.

"Don't look at him men. He gave his all for the dance floor and that is something I can respect whole heartedly."

All the marines do as their told and turn around to give him some respect. The crowd then parts as Luffy and Zoro come up to the gruesome scene.

"Merry, what the heck! I told you no break dancing!"

The man gives out a pained yelp as Luffy drags him by the leg to the infirmary.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's what happens when you go against Doctor Captain's orders. No matter how good the bass drop is…**


	9. A Farewell Between Captains

**A/N: I'm back and on time. Didn't think I was going to make it but here it is. Enjoy.**

 **Deviln Dracule: The first part of this chapter was written in honor of the PM discussion we had about last chapter.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

The sweet, sweet, smell of food permeated and clung to the air around the two ships. Any and all activity had come to a virtual halt. It was hard to think when your mouth wouldn't stop drooling, much less get any training done. So the men on Luffy's and Smoker's ship sat and let the aroma bring them to the edges of euphoria. Dear lord when it was finally time to eat…

Only one person seemed not to notice or care about the meal being prepared. Maybe all those cigars had clotted his nasal cavity with soot and he could no longer experience such pleasures. Maybe his focus on work was so iron clad that nothing could shake it. Whatever it was, it prevented the cuisine from distracting his current thoughts. No matter how disheartened his men would be, they would be forced to face facts that it was time to go home. The base and public peace came before anything else. He didn't expect anyone to be happy about it.

Barely anyone gave the captain attention as he walked on deck. Even the three civilians that received treatment hadn't noticed him, caught up in conversation. To focused on their stomachs or suddenly over-appreciated sense of smell. The only one who acknowledged him was Tashigi, who seemed a little out of breath, flushed in the face, but triumphant in spirit. _Did her glasses always have that small crack?_

"General Smoker, I take it we're about to leave?"

Smoker raised a brow, but otherwise kept his face neutral. "And how would you know that?"

"Well we were actually supposed to leave yesterday before those drifting civilians were spotted by Captain Luffy. Plus you'd most likely not come out of your office otherwise. Let me guess, ran out of cigars?"

Smoker's eyes narrowed a bit at the little hint of mirth in Tashigi's last comment. Luffy's crew must have corrupted her usual professionalism, guessed the man. Thank God he didn't witness the sadist phase she went through in the past week.

"Actually there has been a civil uprising in Lougue Town. No details yet, but we have to return back as soon as possible."

The girl didn't seem upset, but did let out a rather disappointed sigh. "Duty calls I guess. But can we not stay and eat whatever that cook is making?"

"Nope."

Tashigi pouted but easily complied. "Okay then. I'll round up the men."

She reached and hand to the sword at her hip and drew it slowly, rasping the metal against its covering. By the time it was out of its covering, all of Smoker's marines were lined up at attention, ready to jump at a moment's notice. The Navy Captain wasn't even surprised at this point anymore.

"What is your command mistress?!"

Each marine seemed a little nervous, some looking to the heavens and giving a silent prayer to Enru. The display brought a small smile to the lieutenant face, her "training" seemingly paying off. Hopefully Smoker didn't notice that mistress part though. He did. Simply didn't care enough acknowledge it.

"We are leaving for base in 5 minutes. Get to your stations immediately and prepare to leave!"

Their reaction was reflexive in movement. No collisions, even though at the speed of their running it should have been expected. It would probably only be three minutes before the ship was ready to a move on. This increase in activity did not go unnoticed by Luffy and his crew members however, nor did Usopp, Merry, and Kaya not take notice. Merry gently left Usopp's side and walked to Smoker and Tashigi.

"Um, may I ask what is going on?"

"We're leaving for Lougetown. A civil uprising has occurred in my absences and I must return."

Merry seemed a bit taken off guard but quickly regained composer, years of being a butler had trained him to expect the unexpected. It also taught him to see between the lines. Seriously who knew being a butler would prepare you for so much though?

"I take it we will not be able to accompany you," asked Merry even though it came out like a statement. Smoker signed.

"You would be right. I can't knowingly take civilians into what could be a dangerous situation. Staying with Captain Luffy would be much safer for you. From what I know, Usopp no longer needs morphine and everyone else is recovering easily. You should be fine to shadow Luffy's group until the rebellion is over. Until then, this is goodbye."

The butler nodded and walked back over to the two teens to tell them the troubling news. Smoker didn't worry for the small group. Luffy hadn't said his purge rank when he introduced himself, but it was most likely near the top spots. Every pirate and marine in the East Blue combined probably couldn't defeat him. That was the strength of the Purgers.

"You guys leaving?"

Coming out of thought, he looked down at the short teenager who held such tremendous power. Reminded him of some else he knew to be honest. Their smiles seemed to match. "Yes. There is a civil uprising in Lougetown and I must put an end to it."

Luffy scratched his head and nodded. "Yea, Shan- I mean a good friend once told me he had a consensual uprising too. Said it was urgent and ran out the bar with Makino."

"Right…wait wh-"

"We're ready to leave on your word Captain Smoker," shouted a marine in salute.

"Thank you. Tas…where is she?"

Luffy didn't seem to be paying attention at all, but he lazily pointed in the direction of his ship. Smoker turned to see his lieutenant on Luffy's ship yelling at a certain green haired man. He didn't even look interested or aware. Instead, it was Chars behind doing all the responding.

"Oh, it will feel so good when I wipe that bored look off your face. When you're shocked, laying on the ground, bleeding as I point my blade at your neck."

"Ha! Everyone knows Zoro-senpai doesn't bleed. That includes Firmen-senpai, Luffy-senpai, and Jackson-chan," was Chars' rebuttal.

"Why am I the only one who isn't a senpai," asked Jackson, who promptly went ignored.

Tashigi walked right up on Zoro and stared him straight in the eye. "I will defeat you when we meet again."

For the first time, Zoro actually responded himself. Any challenge should be respected. "I can't wait Lieutenant Glasses."

There was a silence where the only thing that could be heard was the sound of wind blowing. Zoro and Tashigi mere inches away, eyes staring into one others soul. No one knew who closed the gap, but in the next moment, their lips are connected in a passionate kiss.

"…"

They break away and continue to stare at each other as if what just happened didn't just happen. The only difference is that Tashigi's face is redder than Luffy's flames. After another two seconds, she turns around and briskly walks back to her ship, head down, and face glowing. Maybe she thought everyone would drop it. Ah, no such luck.

"…OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Chars, who seems to be going into cardiac arrest, beings wildly jumping up and down around Zoro before getting on his hands and knees and begins to bow down in respect. The other marines act in a similar manner, shouting "oohs" and "aahs" around the ship. Lax is convulsing on the floor while Andrew has shoved his skull through the wood of the deck from bowing down so quickly. Firmen is just crying. Just uncontrollably crying in the corner with Jackson acting as his rock. Tashigi has just effectively broken Luffy's crew.

Merry and Kaya look on in confusion at the scene. It's not like they knew if there was any previous relationship or not. Turing to Usopp however, they saw he was staring directly at Zoro, tears streaming from each eye. His manliness radar having been activated, even without knowing the context.

"He's a true hero."

"Usopp what are talking about," asked Kaya, deeply muddled. Usopp simply shut his eyes and looked away, fist clenched in emotion.

"You wouldn't understand. It's not something that can even be explained. All I know is that I'm honored to be in that man's presence." Secretly Merry felt the same way, but he had to pretend to be proper right now for master Kaya.

Luffy, who hadn't caught on to any of this and was just genuinely confused, turned to other the captain beside him. "So guess this is goodbye for now. See you later, ya?" He raised a hand in friendship, which Smoker shook firmly.

"Of course."

Luffy went over to Usopp and proceeded to help him across the plank that connected the two ships, as he was still a bit weak on his feet. Merry and Kaya appreciated the help and followed over with him. Everyone belonging to Luffy's group was now on the right ship, and the plank is drawn in.

"Okay, time to go. Finally," breathed Smoker, honestly feeling a little trepidation at returning. But he kept that to himself. The engine of the Navy roars to life and the vessel slowly moves away in the direction of Lougetown. Once at a good speed, the main mast is let down to give the motor a break and the ship slowly disappears over the horizon. Everyone is a little sad to see the crew leave. They had basically become crewmates in the short time together, most knowing Smoker's ship as well as their own by this point.

Luffy smirked and looked at his crew. "A tearful goodbye between friends. Don't worry, it only makes seeing one other again all the sweeter. Right Zoro?"

Everyone turned to the swordsman, who hadn't moved from his spot or changed facial expressions for the duration of this sudden farewell. Arms crossed, eyes focused on the distance, face rigid in form.

"Yes."

Luffy – not seeing anything odd about that – smiled and continued. "See. And plus I know what will lift your spirits." Luffy turned on his heel and pointed to the door that led to the lower levels. Everyone else turned that way only to find nothing but air.

"Wait for it…"

 _10 seconds…20 seconds...50 seconds…minute and 10 seconds…oh come on…_

Around the 90th second Sanji popped his head out the door wearing a "kiss the cook" apron over his blue button-down, an appetizing aroma following him. "Oi, foods done."

A cheer went out over the men, all in desperate need of nutrients. Though Sanji would not have anyone eating at any table he prepared without proper manners. "I don't want to see any of you eating until everyone is seated, understand?"

They all nodded, not eager to test this man's patience, milling through the door in a calm single file line. One of the most import rules on the sea was do not anger your cook, and it was a rule they all knew. Luffy had asked Firmen and Jackson to help Usopp, Merry, and Kaya find their way to the mess hall before him and Zoro walked through the doorway past Sanji.

"Nice apron cook," teased Zoro good-naturedly. Sanji was quick on the retort.

"I don't want to hear that from you moss head."

This was starting to become a reoccurring tradition quickly. The friendly insults had started the second time Zoro visited Sanji in the hospital and made an off-handed comment about the cook's eyebrows. It had only spiraled from there. However, neither was ever malicious about it or truly annoyed.

Sanji was about to head back as well before he noticed Luffy had stopped dead and was simply staring at him. And he had a very concerning look in his eyes.

"Um, Luffy? Are you okay?"

"Kiss…the cook?"

Luffy looked him dead in the face and began leaning upward, his lips becoming dangerously close, much to Sanji's destress. "Wait! Wait! WAIT-"

Luffy and Sanji were the last ones to make it into the mess hall. One smiling. One not.

"Ooooh, you should have said that you were wearing it ironically. Makino use to wear a similar apron and I would always kiss her on the cheek when she made food. I thought it was just common courtesy or something. Shishishishi."

Sanji, who desperately needed a cigarette or the sight of women, weakly trudged beside his captain. He wished he could find any humor in this situation. Of course Tashigi-chan had to leave right before this happened as well. Shitty luck.

The mess hall was filled with testosterone driven, hungry, restless men. So it was a surprise to Sanji that they – while being loud – were relatively well behaved, patiently waited to be served. The cook and Luffy went to the kitchen to bring out the plates, the captain helping without even being asked. There was seven large tables that could seat up to seven people comfortably. With only 38 people present, however (excluding Sanji), some seats went unused.

Luffy and Sanji worked fast and placed a plate, bowl, and side plate at each table. The main dish on the plate was some sort of meat and potato combination that had no right look or smell as fancy as it did. The meat could be cut with a spoon it was so tender, an assortment of spices and finely chopped veggies added richness to the flavor, and the potatoes seemed to be made of clouds instead of anything found this close to earth. The bowl held the true masterpiece of this meal, though. It held a beautiful Consommé soup, clear without any hint of cloudiness. Its rich stock, and explosive flavor would be enough to bring men to tears. And it did. The marines were actually crying salty tears of joy. Finally, on the side plate was three rice balls. Rice balls that had more flavor than most entrees.

Needless to say, everyone was satisfied to the nth degree. Even Zoro grunted his approval, the highest praise you could ever get from him when it came to food.

Luffy – after helping to serve – walked over to the table Zoro, Firmen, Usopp, Kaya, and Merry were sitting at. He plopped down between Usopp and Firmen and promptly began eating. A moment later the raven haired teen felt his taste buds orgasm and nearly fainted at the sensation of glorious flavor exciting his entire being. He wasn't alone either.

Usopp upon lifting the bowl to his lips and taking a swig forgot what pain was. Just vanished from his memory. There was only euphoria now.

Kaya, who was seated between Usopp and Merry, had always been fed with a silver spoon and given the greatest money could buy. More so when it came to what she ate, considering how weak she always was. But now she had clarity. All that "fine" cuisine had been gutter trash unfit for even swine to feast on. Calling this food was an insult. It was heaven in three courses. It was…God's gift to the righteous.

If anyone looked at Merry right now they would notice he clearly wasn't on Earth anymore. Angels had taken his spirit to Cloud 9 for an ethereal massage in holy spirit. _You've been working too hard Merry. You deserve this. Let me and the angels relieve your stress._

"Yes enteral goddess," whispered Merry in a hushed, earnest tone. No one at the table questioned it.

Firmen glanced at Merry as if he understood completely before turning back to Luffy. "So Captain, where we headed after this?"

It took all the willpower on Earth for Luffy to put down his fork and answer the question. "Well I talked it over with Sanji, and he said it would be okay to swing by Arlong Park before going after Don Krieg. So that's what we will do. It's only a day away."

Firmen nodded. "It shouldn't take long. Oh, I've been meaning to tell you, we need a new navigator."

Luffy along with Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Have we not had one all this time," asked Zoro, a bit worried and perplexed. Firmen waved his hand as if to dismiss the thought.

"Oh course we have one…or did I guess. The guy was an idiot though, so Jackson took over for the time being."

"So when we went to find Zoro…?"

"Yep. That was all me and Jackson."

Luffy scratched under his straw hat, thinking about this new information. "Was the other guy really that bad at navigating?"

Firmen flashbacked to a few weeks ago.

 _Hey mate, do you not know where north is? We should be heading the other way._

 _OH! I thought it said WEAST!_

 _..._

 _Patrick, who let you be navigator?_

"Yea, he was a right idiot. Great drinking buddy though."

"Okay then," conceded Luffy. Guess he would add that to the mental checklist of things he needed to acquire. Eh, don't sweat the small stuff.

Usopp – who had come out of his trance just in time to hear the exchange – turned to Luffy. "W-wait. You're going after Arlong. 20,000,000 berry Arlong?"

Luffy was glad to see Usopp was contributing to this conversation. "That's the plan. You want in on this? If the story you told us is true, you're quite the fighter. I doubt some of my men could take on a whole pirate crew."

The liar shook his head. "I had the home court advantage. Not to mention three days' notice of the attack."

Luffy was quick to counter that argument. "But that at least means you are good at making plans. If I had three days to prepare for attack, I'd most likely just try to come up with a new attack. You understand how to use the environment to win. Hold on, what weapon did you use?"

"A-A slingshot. I use special ammunition to make up for the lack of draw strength," bumbled out Usopp, feeling a little timid because he now had the attention of Zoro, Firmen, Jackson, and Luffy. "I guess I can show you guys later if you want."

Jackson nodded. "Aiming with a slingshot is significantly harder than a gun. The effect of wind direction and air friction must be taken into account more so. Usopp, do you think you'd be able to teach a few things to some of our riflemen? They just don't seem to understand aiming."

Usopp nodded dumbly before he could fully process the question. To think these warriors could learn anything from him was baffling. But at least he could be helpful and somewhat repay their kindness to him, Kaya, and Merry.

Jackson almost continued, but made the mistake of taking another bite of onigiri, causing his spirit to be whisked away to piquancy afterlife, where all good flavors go to simmer in lasting bliss. Firmen soon followed. Zoro resisted at first…but even he could not deny its taste. Luffy's defenses fell before they could even be built. Finally Usopp began eating again as well, and all thought of conversation died at the table.

* * *

 **Grand Line. Unknown Island**

* * *

A slender fishman ran down the hallway as fast as he could towards the door at the end of this foyer. In hand is a single East Blue newspaper, a thing that usually wouldn't be of interest to anyone outside the sea. However, this very organization ran off knowledge. Knowledge is power after all. And the Revolutionaries needed all the power available.

Hatch damn near kicked the door to Sabo's office off the hinges. The Chief of Staff barely even noticed the intruding, currently up to his ears in paperwork and battle plans he would have to run by Dragon and Arc. Hell, it had been months since he actually had to fight. Though that was probably for the best.

"This better be good Hatch," muttered Sabo, not looking up. The fishman slams the paper down for dramatic effect, knocking over a pile of important documents in the process. _Dang it. Those were alphabetized._

"Now this really better be good."

The blond looks down at the daily news and his eyes widened briefly. "The purge has started in the East Blue? Already?" He takes the paper in his hands and begins to flip through pages. Sadly only the first page mentions the attack on Don Krieg. _50 ships gone in smoke within an instant_. That doesn't exactly add up. Sabo opens one of the drawers in his little wooden desk and takes out a list of the top 20 Purgers in the Navy registry, complete with little notes he has taken over the years. Getting the information they did have had been a task in itself.

 _Inigo Diabolus (No known devil fruit) (Fleet Admiral's personal guard) (can disrupt Haki) (great sense of honor) (swordsman)_

 _Team 7 (Taju Taju no Mi) (strong electrical attacks) (tactical) (Mink/Wando tribe)_

" _Kill-a-man" Jaro (No known devil fruit) (near instant speed) (should not be engaged) (fishman)_

 _Haruko Haruhara (No known devil fruit) (extremely unpredictable) (human?)_

…

 _This just doesn't seem to add up. No one in the top twenty seems to have a fire based devil fruit. I'll definitely have to talk more to Dragon and Arc about this._

"This is good information Hatch. Sorry for being a bit snippy with you earlier."

The fishman smiled and leaned on the wall. "It's fine Sabo. Tensions are very high right now for everyone. More so for you and the other leaders," says Hatch, turning to leave. "I do wish you'd go talk to Koala though. She's becoming a bit worried for your health."

And then he was gone, leaving a frustrated and somewhat guilty Sabo. Dragon's right-hand man looked at his desk, nearly unintelligible under the mountain of paperwork and charts.

It could wait. Right now Sabo needed a small break and a chance to chat up a dear friend. He walked out his office and nearly gagged on the fresh, non-stale outside his office. Walking down the familiar hallways was almost therapeutic, but after eating and sleeping in that damn office chair, any activity involving movement and a change of scenery was a blessing. It was also nice to wave at friendly faces he hadn't seen for weeks. Sure were a lot of new recruits now a days.

A tired yawn forced its way out as Sabo rounded the next corner, reminding him to pick up another cup of coffee on the way back. By this point Sabo's bloodstream was more caffeine than actual blood platelets. _Arc always says that man power doesn't win wars, coffee does._

That reminded Sabo of the time he first met Napoleon Arc. Even under the circumstances, he had been calm as always. The man was the king of a large kingdom in the Grand Line called Waterloo, though he didn't have a royal bone in his body.

It had all started when the World Government decided that the kingdom of Waterloo had more power than should be allowed and went about annihilating it. Printed in the paper some bull about how they had actually been guarding an Ohara scholar refugee and sent a Buster Call worth of ships led by 5 vice admirals and 7 elite Purgers. Dragon had got word of the attack and sent word to the royal family there to flee. They refused, claiming they would stand their ground to the end. Hoping to find a new ally in this kingdom, Dragon sent Sabo, Bartholomew, three other commanders, and thirty ships to Waterloo. Upon arriving, they found that the battle had already been raging for two days. And amazingly it was deadlocked.

Two elite Purgers had been killed with three heavily wounded. Only one vice admiral remained alive. A half of the marine footmen (remind you each common man had 6 powers and weak Haki) were dead or out of action. On the other side, Arc had started with 15,000 men and had 9,000 remaining. He himself was responsible for ending the Purgers and hadn't left the front line since the beginning. He was a massive imposing figure on the battlefield, standing at 7 foot 5 inches (226.06 cm). His blade, _Salut_ , was like streaks of lightning ripping through the sky and heavens. It had actually been Sabo's honor to fight next to him.

The blonde's thought gets interrupted when he reaches Koala's office room. All of a sudden he's nervous, despite there being no real reason. Sure he might get a scolding about working too hard again, but nothing to truly fret over. No. The disappoint in his friend's eyes, the slight hurt that is reflected at him as if she thinks he doesn't value her. That is what strikes fear into Sabo more than any number of Government dogs could.

He curtly knocks twice and waits. Some creaking is heard from the other room and soft footsteps head toward the door. It swings open to reveal a small, disheveled, short, orange haired girl.

"Listen Hatch I-"

She's cut off when Sabo wraps his arms around her in a tight, almost desperate hug. Sabo notices the quickening of Koala's heart but passes it off as a result of surprise instead of anything deeper. Sabo is denser than most harem protagonist.

Before she can speak, the Chief of Staff is whispering into her ear. "I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I know work is no excuse considering we're in the same building, but things have been tense. Forgive me?"

Koala chokes on her words. If anything is spoken now it will only come out as an unintelligible mess. It takes but a minute to force the tears back, swallow the knot in her throat, and lock her legs into place before they buckle. _Come on girl, you're a warrior! Act like it._ Now, finally in control once again, she responds.

"I'll accept your apology…"

"Thank y-"

"IF you refill my coffee mug."

And as if by magic, the embrace is over and an oversized mug with "Koala Bears R Life" painted on the ceramic is placed in Sabo's hand. When he looks up with a confused expression, she gives an angry pout.

"What? You think you're the only one with mountains of paperwork?"

"I guess n-"

"You know how I take it. Please, and thank you." She pats him on the cheek affectionately and retreats back into her office, closing the door behind her.

Sabo looks down at the mug dumbly, barely able to process what even happened. _Huh, this is the mug I got her._ A smile makes its way onto his face before the young warrior begins the perilous trek to the cafeteria. Why is there not a coffee machine on the top levels? Budget cuts. The common enemy of marine and Revolutionary alike.

* * *

 **East Blue**

* * *

If Usopp was being completely honest, he didn't want train with the other guys after lunch. It wasn't like they were forcing him or anything. In fact, they only asked to be taught aiming techniques. Plus the sniper was nearly positive he should be taking it easy right now, what with the head injury and just general muscle overuse. Yes, there was no reason to be attempting to lift weights or spar (defiantly not spar), or even move really.

But those reasons went out the window when he noticed Kaya blush from seeing the shirtless marines train.

So that leads us to now. With Usopp attempting to lift a 150-pound dumbbell without looking like an idiot. Quite the feat considering he'd been trying for 2 minutes and is already pouring buckets of sweat, dehydrated, and gasping for air. Stopping while you're ahead had always been one of Usopp's favorite "23 Quotes to Live By," but it's hard to quit when Kaya is clearly staring at you from the sidelines. Eventually, Luffy comes to the rescue.

"Hey Usopp! Uh…the guys need more sniper training or something. Could you come help us out?"

Usopp nearly cries tears of joy at Luffy's out. _I'll never forget this Captain Luffy._ He lets go of the dumbbell and makes his way over to the captain.

"Yes! I was just working the old pecs out, but I'm available!"

Kaya giggles at the scene. Secretly, she knows that was just so Usopp could just save face. But that thought makes her even happier. One, because it seems Luffy and Usopp are becoming friends and two, because it means that Usopp actually _wants_ to save face. He's becoming his old self again.

Meanwhile, the beloved liar is being introduced to his trainees

"Okay, this is Narry, Oakley, Pierce, and Ethan. I've instructed them to follow your every command and whim. All I ask in return is that you teach them how to shoot an ant between the eyes from one mile away."

"Okay. Wait wh-"

"Thanks Usopp." And then Luffy was gone.

Taking a quick breath, Usopp turned and looked at the four men who were by all standards stronger than him. Narry had light blue eyes, dark green hair, and soft features. Oakley was the largest of the four, sandy blond hair that stuck up at odd ends, a thick beard, brown eyes, and tough features. Pierce look a little owlish, had sharp features, black hair, canary yellow eyes, and a longer than average nose. Ethan was short and stocky, had dark gray hair, nervous hazel eyes, and soft features.

"Okay men," said Usopp using his deepest voice possible. Hearing Kaya giggle in the background wasn't helping. "This will be the most grueling training you will ever go through. By the time I'm done you will know when to run, when to jump, and when to get the fuck out of Dodge. The key to shooting accurately is being afraid because you know if you miss you will be dead. This is coward training, and it begins now."

\- _In the kitchen_ -

"Thanks for helping out with the dishes Merry," said Sanji, arms deep in soapy water beside the butler. Merry waved the thought away.

"No, no. It really is my pleasure. It would be criminal of me not help out. Think of it as thanks. Plus I'm used to this kind of work anyway."

Sanji nodded and resumed washing, rinsing, and drying in silence. "Didn't you mention you were a butler or something for that girl I saw?"

"Yes, but her parents have been dead for a while. Me and Kla…Kuro were her caretakers for many years until now."

 _Silence._

"Hey, are you still worried about that demented butler/pirate finding you guys? Because there really is nothing to be concerned about now that you are with us. The Captain already seems to have taken a liking to the two, so I doubt anything can happen without going through him."

 _You know what Sanji, I think someone can only lose everything once._

 _Why is that Luffy?_

… _Because the next time, you'll die trying not to lose again…_

"Yea, I know you're in good hands. Even if the guy is a little dense."

Merry smiled. "Yes, I'm very grateful to Luffy, in more ways than one. I…I can see the life returning to Usopp and Kaya again. Quicker than it would have otherwise if we had not met. In a way, I'm very glad Captain Smoker was forced to leave without us."

"And because of my cooking right?"

"That may also have played a major part," muttered Merry quietly, drawing a chuckle from Sanji.

* * *

 **Cocoyashi Village**

* * *

Afternoon was drawing to a close.

Nami had spent the day toiling in the tangerine orchard, enjoying the shade, sweet fruit, and relaxing breeze. If she should fail tomorrow, then it may be the last time she will ever see this place. In a way, her fate is tied with this orchard. If she perishes no one else will be able to tend to the fragile trees and they will slowly wilt into nothing. An interesting thought.

She supposed Nojiko could take care of them…if it wasn't for the fact Nojiko would be helping her to kill Arlong a well. Nami really should have expected her sister to include herself once she was told the plan. It wasn't like her sister didn't want to personally see the life drain from Arlong's eyes like everyone else in this miserable hole did.

The plan was simple. The next time she got called, the fishmen would "check" her to see if there were any weapons on her. Tragically, they would "miss" the knife (Hatchi personally sharpened it) taped to her back. Once inside, she would be forced to strip for that monster (it always happened). This was the hard part, however. Nami needed to make sure Arlong didn't see her back without making it appear as if she didn't want him to see her back. After getting close enough to Arlong, she would put both her hands behind her back, as if about to let down her hair. Then finally, release the knife without being detected, get in throat slashing range, and attack. While still in shock, Nojiko, who has been behind the door will come in and shoot Arlong point blank in the back of the head.

If all goes well, they should be free of him by mid-day tomorrow. If all goes well.

* * *

 **A/N: It seems a lot is happening. Smoker and Tashigi have finally departed. Do not worry, we will be keeping up with their adventures. Their comic relief is too good to lose! Usopp, Kaya, and Merry are settling in well. Usopp even seems like he will have a devout following soon. Oh, if any of you got the hidden joke with the name introduction, then tell me in the review. The first appearance of Sabo and Koala happened, yay! They will be important soon, so don't think I threw that in just for funzies.**

 **And did Sabo mention an Ohara scholar…**

 **Next Chapter: Revenge is a Dish Best Served with Citrus**

 **Okay, doing something a little different. I usually decide to answer questions I see in the comments at the beginning of the chapter, but now I will doing "Ask Senpai Luffy" installments every few chapters or whenever there is an overload of questions. Let us begin.**

* * *

 **Omake: Senpai Luffy! #1**

* * *

A short man with dark black hair strolled into the classroom. He wore a solid black jacket, pants, and nearly reflective shoes they were so shiny. His dress shirt was a deep red, contrasting nicely with his yellow tie. The only thing hindering the professional look was the fact this young man was wearing a worn straw hat and had only one eye. His goofy grin didn't help much either. You know what, this guy was just a mess.

"Hello class," announced Luffy, setting down a suitcase on his desk. He waited for a hello in response. And waited. And waited.

"Guys, this is when you're supposed to say "Hello Senpai Luffy!" in unison," whispered Luffy, already confused. "Did you forget your lines?"

The class decided to tell Luffy exactly what they thought about that.

"Oi, Oi. Who died and made you Senpai?"

"I'm pretty sure we're all older than you."

"Bet he doesn't even know what Senpai means."

"This is bull-"

"OK! That's enough! Geez, no need to hurt my feelings or anything." Luffy pops open the suitcase and takes out a single paper. Then he takes out a pair of glasses and puts them on. Despite having one eye.

"Let's see here. **S3rp3nte** asked about the whole Buster Call thing going to Dawn Island. It is going to be awhile until the full backstory chapter happens, so I'll give so info. The Buster Call was indeed unauthorized, but was it a mistake? Ace was the Pirate Kings son. And if the wrong man found out…"

Firmen raises his hand. "Luffy-Senpai, I think you're giving away too much. We should move on."

Luffy nods. "I think you may be right. Got to have those big reveals and what not. Next question comes from **Chrisfragger.** What is up with the random civil uprising? Um, if we're being honest here, Smoker leaving was necessary for a couple of reasons, so that's the main reason it happened. But also, think about the newspaper published the same day as the uprising. Hint. Hint. Maybe Purgers aren't just a blight to pirates?"

"They're better than Revolutionaries," grumbles out Smoker in the back of the class.

"Smoker, who let you in here? Why are you…know what? Doesn't matter. Everyone is welcomed to learn from Senpai Luffy. Last question. A few people have asked for this one. How are the Supernovas holding up? Um, better than you'd expect actually. I will say that most of them are still pirates. _Most._ "

Everyone looks around. "So are we done here," ask Usopp near the front beside Kaya, "because I really have to use the bathroom?"

"Not until Zoro gets back with the hall pass."

"He's been gone for hours! How long could it take to go two doors down and take a left?! Where is he?"

* * *

 **Raftel**

* * *

Zoro looked around the strange island, nearly certain this couldn't be the bathroom. Weird markings and animals. Not to mention enormous plants that towered towards the heavens. Yep, not the bathroom. Just more mountains of gold and devil fruits he has no use for.

"Where in the hell is this?"

* * *

 **A/N: Of course, the answer was there the whole time. Just ask Zoro to specifically not find Raftel and that's what will happen.**


	10. Revenge is Best Served with Citrus

**A/N: Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

* * *

The sun rises on the East Blue.

Those who have been bred to rise with the sun awaken refreshed and prepared to begin anew. The saying, "tomorrow is another" is popular for a reason. A new day can often feel like a fresh start despite how yesterday went. Clocks reset along with bodies and everything continues in its cycle.

Today was going to be Nami's new start. Her new day if it was. It also might be her final day on Earth, so there is also that to think about. She was not refreshed, not invigorated, and not even out of bed yet. Awake, yes. Out of bed, no.

She had been up for three hours now, staring at the ceiling for answers about how the day would go. Oddly, none could be found. Maybe she should try tea leaves? Her focus shifts to Nojiko, who tosses in her sleep and cuddles closer to Nami to find comfort. This had become a common thing between the two sisters, to sleep in the same bed. Though Nojiko found the most relief from it, Nami had ever suggested it stop. It had become habit after Genzo died and it reminded both sisters they still had one another.

Nami gently caresses her sister's hair while staring at the beams of sunlight coming through the blinds of her window. She idly begins to count the floating dust particles in the air while waiting for her sister to wake up. The girl would normally have just left the bed quietly to make breakfast, but today was different. Tomorrow was uncertain, so she would revel in her sister's warmth for as long as possible. Nojiko also never slept this late anyway, so she was probably having similar thoughts.

 _A cut to the throat. Will the knife penetrate his skin? Will I be quick enough? Is it possible? Should I call off the deal?_

These questions had been bouncing off Nami for the better part of three days and two nights. The last one especially. It was clear the Navy was on its way to finish off Arlong once and for all, so waiting seemed like the best option. Logic told her it was.

However, logic wasn't always in control. To let some nameless marine warrior kill the scum that had shit over her life for the better part of a decade seemed wrong in some way. He was not theirs to kill. Nami wanted to have Arlong's blood on her hands and no one else's, except her sister of course who had endured just as much.

She once had a wet dream involving Arlong. The dream had just been her in an empty room with a gun and a chained up Arlong in a chair. She shot him over and over and over again, watching the life slowly drain from his terrified eyes. When she told her sister, Nojiko confessed to having similar dreams.

That was another thing bothering her about this plan. If it went well, Arlong would be killed quickly and not suffer. This went against what Nami wished to happen to him, but then again, torturing Arlong would bring her close to his level. That was a place Nami didn't want to be anywhere near. Becoming like him…it would be worse than death. In that case, though, it might be better for him to be captured and sent to Impel Down. If the stories were true then that place was hell on Earth.

 _No. Then I can't be the one to see him die._

Nami's eyes drifted over to the wall and began humming a tune Bellemere use to sing to her and Nojiko as little girls. She had even heard Genzo hum it once or twice. She could not remember the words to save her own life, though. It didn't really matter, the simple tune comforted her anyway despite it also reminding her of the closest thing to parents she ever had.

 _That money…is for my two girls._

Thoughts of _that day_ flooded into Nami's mind. The tears soon began flooding from her eyes as well, even though she hadn't cried over Bellimere's death in over three years. In fact, she thought her tears had run dry after Genzo was killed. Sure enough, however, liquid pooled from behind her eyes like as if a metaphorical damn had broken.

 _You've stolen Nami's purity, which was worth all the lives in the East Blue. It's only right I steal your life Arlong._

Remembering the steel she had heard in Genzo's voice, the unwavering edge in his eyes as he fought Arlong with his last breath…she hadn't been worth it. Nami would have wished he had endured with her than die defending her and Nojiko's honor. Well, that was what she had thought in the beginning, but now she knew better. Seeing Nami, someone he considered a daughter, walk from Arlong Park day in and out, knowing what happening inside was something he wouldn't have been able to live with. Rushing into fight Arlong had been about anger, yes, but more about the fact he couldn't continue to live on the island.

Nami didn't hold it against him. How could she? She probably would have killed herself (though not by fighting Arlong) if not for having a sister that would be left behind.

The mikan haired girl turned to her ice-blue haired counterpart and began gently petting her hair once more. If today went well, Nami was going to find her and her sister a change of scenery. Seriously, fuck this island. She didn't care if _begging_ was required to get on whatever marine ship pulled up, but she wasn't staying here. The sun didn't shine on Cocoyashi Village anymore. It could never be called home again.

It would be necessary to leave anyway if she was to enact her dream of charting the whole world. After everything that happened, it may seem trivial now, but that dream was important. It symbolized Nami taking back her life. Because if Arlong was able to break her spirit to the point the dream was no longer something she had the strength to reach for, well that would be like him winning in a way. Call it a last "fuck you" to his existence if you will.

As Nami's tears finally dried up, Nojiko then began to stir in her sleep. Her breathing hitched a little before going back to normal and her arms pull Nami even closer. Yes, she was definitely awake now, even if her eyes stayed closed the whole time. The former thief smiled and shook her head a bit at this. Honestly, sometimes she felt like the older sister instead of the other way around.

"Nojiko, if you don't let go I cannot make breakfast," Nami spoke in almost a near whisper. Her sister snuggled closer, not seeming to mind going hungry for the time being.

"It's fine. We can just have an early lunch or a late breakfast. As long as I get to stay here a bit longer," breathed out Nojiko into Nami' neck. Geez, even food wasn't a good enough temptation. Deciding not to press the issue anymore, the future navigator allowed herself to be used as a body pillow for a little longer. No harm in it.

"Nami," said Nojiko hesitantly, "I just want you to know I love you. More than anything."

The younger sister didn't respond immediately, she instead continued to stare a hole into the ceiling. If her sister felt the need to state something so obvious, then she must be very scared right now at what the day will bring. Nojiko hadn't felt the need to say those words for years now because it was obvious, wasn't it? She also knew Nami felt the same, so she most likely didn't expect a response. Though, Nami gave one anyway.

"I love you too sis. More than anything in the world."

Nami felt something moist begin to dampen her pillow and for the arms that already encircled her to constrict to the point of near suffocation. Nojiko shuttered beside her and began making sniffing noises. Nami used the arm that was already under her sister to pull Nojiko closer and let her cry it out. The act only made the tears come harder.

"Don't worry sis. We'll be together at the end of this, that's a promise."

Whether the double message was received or not by Nojiko is a mystery, but damn did she cry. The tears that had been held back for quite some time came out like a waterfall and sobbing filled the room. Her younger sisters began whispering sweet words while giving feather light pets on her head. The act reminded her of Bellemere, which only caused her tears to come down harder than before.

Nami knew her sister probably felt embarrassed. She always was trying to put on the strong front for her, even though it was entirely unneeded. They were both broken and no amount of pretending would change that, but if it the act of pretending helped, Nami would never acknowledge or confront her sister on it.

It tears only lasted a few more minutes, but then afterward came the comfort hugging, which had already been in progress from the beginning. That took another hour, but afterward, it seemed Nojiko was finally ready to leave the warmth of the bed. Nami padded through the bedroom door and over to the kitchen to begin making what might be the last meal ever served in this house.

There wasn't much in the house food-wise, but that had always been the case and they still had always been able to make something that got the taste buds going. Tangerine sauce with scrambled eggs and pancakes sounded good. Excellent last meal idea if Nami ever heard one.

As the girl began getting out the ingredients, she felt a slight chill come over her. She was currently wearing pink shorter than short shorts and a plain white oversized t-shirt. Not what you would call insulated clothing, not in a drafty house like this anyway.

She cracks the eggs into a bowl and begins the arduous task of beating them into submission with her trusty whisper. After this, the pancake batter is mixed and poured into the skillet. Then comes the secret family recipe for tangerine sauce. Soon the smells of breakfast fills the air and permeates through the house. Nojiko comes out of the bedroom wearing similar attire as her sister, sits at the table and waits for deliciousness. Nami can't help but notice the smugness on Nojiko's face that basically screams _'yay, it isn't my day to cook.'_

Honestly how she could be so self-satisfied over that at on a day like today brought a small grin to Nami's face. Worries always seemed so fleeting in moments like this. Nami's soul raged like a burning inferno when she remembered that this could have been the norm if Arlong had never reared his saw nose on the East Blue. Specifically her island in particular. If only.

Nami shook her head of the thoughts for now and served food she had just prepared while still hot. She sat down adjacent from her sister and began eating in a comfortable silence. This was nice. However, the day could not stay as pleasant as now. A loud knock at the door punctuated that fact painfully clear.

"Yo, Nami open up!"

It was Chew. She would have preferred it be Hatchi that delivered the news, but she guessed that didn't really matter anyway. Nojiko looked up from her plate with a resigned sadness before a streak of determination appeared across her features instead. Jeez, Nojiko looked like she was about to go off for war, which really wasn't far off from what was about to happen.

Nami stood and walked to the door calmly before opening it. The tall, blonde-haired, long-lipped fishman stood with an imposing figure over her. His standard expression of slightly pissed off but also mildly intrigued, with a touch of sarcastic musing was not present. Instead, it was replaced with a very concerned but also generally sarcastic look. Weird that Nami knew his face well enough to tell the difference, but that tends to happen after 10+ years of knowing anyone.

"Tch. Did I interrupt something," sneers Chew with the tact of a newborn pig. Nami is a little surprise he picked up on the irritation hidden beneath the impassive expression she patented over the years, but it wasn't like he also hadn't known her for years as well. His normal jeering tone doesn't have an edge today. Based on the circumstances this was not very surprising.

"Is it finally time Chew," ask Nami with a completely expressionless voice. The fishman becomes a bit more reserved, looking to the side and spitting a jet of water into the dirt. Nami can tell he feels bad about this arrangement. Funny since it was originally his idea, but some lingering loyalty to his captain must still remain, fond memories mixed with the recent bad ones. He shakes it off and looks back at her with his signature expression.

"Yea, it's time."

"And I trust you will keep your end of the deal?"

Nami hears Chew mutter "bitch" under his breath before answering. "Psh, we already told you that destroying this village would paint a target on our backs. Even that fool Hatchan gave you his word."

She nodded but didn't reply verbally. It was enough for Chew, who turned around and started walking back to Arlong Park, trusting she could find the way on her own. Nami signed and went back into the house to retrieve her knife. Nojiko is as silent as reproved child, staring into the distance as if having seen an apparition.

Nami watches Nojiko head into the shared living space to get the pistol that was given to her to shoot Arlong in the back of the head. The mikan haired girl opens one of the kitchen drawers connected to the countertop and pulls out the specially sharpened one she was given by Hatchi. When he handed to her, the octopus said he slid it over the whetstone over 500 times until it was like a razor.

The knife isn't particularly impressive or anything on its own; just a simple 5-inch blade, no guard, and a 4-inch bone white wooden handle. Rather dull in appearance unless the sunlight hits the blade just right. Nami liked this knife, though. It didn't seem like much, but it would do the job well. Hopefully, it would do the job well anyway. She laid it on the counter and went into the bedroom to change clothes. Upon entering, she sees Nojiko has changed into a blue t-shirt and knee length, olive brown shorts. The older sister is sitting on the shared bed, staring at the pistol in her hand as if it held the answers to life itself. It wasn't like it was an ornate object or anything; _that_ was not the reason it captured not only Nojiko's attention and Nami's as well.

This specific pistol was the same used to kill Bellemere.

Now it was about to be used to kill Arlong.

Was that irony or poetic justice? Whatever it was, it held a lot of weight to Nami and Nojiko; so much so it was nearly suffocating. Nami continued to get dress into something more that would distract Arlong a little. Also to clear something up, she wasn't actually sure if Arlong found humans attractive in a sexual way and if he did then he would much rather prefer a mermaid or fishwomen. The act of having intercourse with some of the women around the town was almost purely to assert dominance over something. He particularly enjoyed ones with more fight, the reason Nami was a favorite. She never once allowed Arlong to see her cry during one of the sessions. Not even the first time. Anyway, Nami picked a hot pink spaghetti strapped blouse (it could easily be taken off without raising her arms), a light blue mini skirt (once again didn't take much to take off), and Spartan style sandals. It all specially chosen so her back wouldn't accidently be shown while disrobing. Oh, and no underwear to speak of. This was no time to worry about shame.

After getting into uniform, she leaves the bedroom with her sister trailing close behind. Nami grabs the knife off the counter where she left it and heads outside. It's cloudy with a 70% chance of rain and 30% percent chance of thunderstorms. Or at least that what Nami deduced just by simply breathing the air and feeling the humidity on her skin. _Yes, it would be cloudy today wouldn't it?_

They begin to head down the hill towards the town. Neither talk nor attempt to make conversation because both were completely focused on what will be an extremely tense situation very soon. In fact, it seems as if the closer they get to Arlong Park, the greater amount of barometric pressure is present. Nami had absent-mindedly started to rub her left shoulder where the Arlong tattoo used to be.

The day Genzo died, Nami had found a kitchen knife and skinned off the accursed mark until nothing was left. When Nojiko found her passed out on the floor, she had thought Nami committed suicide.

 _Dear lord! Nami what have you done?!_

 _I-I…Couldn't…_

 _Oh…(sob)…oh Nami please to don't leave me here..._

The day Arlong first raped Nami, she had scrubbed herself until the normally peachy skin was red and raw. Genzo had found her like that in the tub in the fetal position. I had been more than the man could handle and continue to function.

 _I'm going to stop this Nami._

 _G-Genzo…please don't try to fight him…_

The look on Genzo's bloodied, broken, and bruised face will haunt her until the end of time. It was neither angry nor pained. Close to satisfied, but with fringes of sadness around the edges. It was a face a man-made when he fought as hard has he could and failed despite that effort. The sadness hadn't been from any injury even though each appendage was broken beyond recognition, no, he was saddened that he wouldn't be able to look after the girls he loved anymore. Everyone had been forced to watch as he was boiled alive as punishment for rebellion.

 _Genzo. Bellemere. Please look over me while I finish the monster once and for all._

Soon Arlong Park could be seen in the distance. It rose from the ground like a cyst rising off flesh and looked just as grave. In all honesty, Nami actually wanted to throw up just at the sight of it because it only reminded her of Arlong again. The building was almost a symbol her fight. Only fitting the final climax would happen here. At the gates stood Kuroobi, ready to give the final briefing.

"Turn around," he grunted. Wow, not even a hello? Comparatively speaking, Chew seemed rather cheerful. The fishman karate master had deep scowl etched into his features; that would have been normal, however, if not for the tinge of fear he was trying (and failing) to hide.

Nami handed him the knife and turned around, allowing him to tape the tiny weapon between her shoulder blades. Having the cool metal scrape across her skin sent a shiver up her spine. Strong hands grasped Nami's arms before she could squirm too much.

"Do move around too much," seethed Kuroobi. "Do that and you'll cut yourself on this knife. Cut yourself and blood will be drawn. If blood is drawn, the Arlong will see and catch on. If Arlong catches on to you, you and your sister are dead. Understand?"

She nodded dumbly. His concern was based solely on his own wellbeing, but at least he was thinking very seriously about this. After Kurobi made sure the knife was secured, he opened the gates to Arlong Park and escorted her in. Nojiko was to wait outside out of sight for 3 minutes and then follow. The two sisters hugged and departed.

Once inside, Arlong Park, it was exactly how it always was. A Large area filled with random fishman, but today was a bit different. Everyone was tense, more so with her arrival. If Arlong was out here being the suspicious bastard he was, he probably would have figured out something was amiss. Luckily he was waiting in his chambers instead of meeting her in the patio area as he occasionally did. The fishmen out there gave curt nods to Nami as she passed by, eyes filled with dread. They were not as good at keeping their emotions in check as the two co-leaders she had already talked to today.

"Hey," Nami whispered as her and Kuroobi made their way into the building, "where is Hatchi?"

"Scouting."

 _I would have preferred he be here._

The corridors were always kept dark for some reason. Nami wasn't one hundred percent on the abilities of fishmen despite living among them for over ten years, but she was pretty sure night vision wasn't one of their many skills.

They stopped outside of Arlong's door and paused. There was a pregnant silence between the two as if the buildup had been but a dream, but now, it was all too real. Funny that the person she didn't care for the most (excluding Arlong) would be the one by her side at her most critical moment. Oh the irony, you never fail.

"Go. He's waiting," says Kurobi with a slightly louder voice than normal. It was clearly for Arlong's ears behind the door. She nodded to him for the last time and pushed the large wooden door aside to reveal one of Arlong's several personal rooms. The floor was coated in a very thin layer of black carpet, the walls were unpainted stone, an off white-gray in color. There was a large chair placed against the same wall the door was on, in which he sat. The only light source was a cluster of three light bulbs hanging off the ceiling. It was actually a rather spacious room considering it only served one purpose; six yards in width, seven yards in length, and nine yards in height.

As soon as Nami walked into the room she turned to face Arlong, hiding her back from view. Making sure to not nervous, she put on her resting impassive face and spoke.

"So, how do you want it today?"

The room smelled like a brewery, the scent of alcohol hung thick in the air. He must have gotten rid of the bottle already because she didn't see any present. Looking closely at his face, his expression was as sharp as ever, or anyone who hadn't looked at this face years would have thought so. It was slacking a bit. His senses will be dulled considerably for the next few minutes, though that still put him at a super human advantage to her.

She began to strip her clothes, as per usual. Nami let the spaghetti strapped blouse fall to the ground along with her skirt. It would have been very strange if she had been apprehensive about stripping when that hadn't been the case for past year. She walked towards him, with a gentle sway in her hips. His reaction time to her movement was slower than it would have normally been, so she was able to quickly, but not alarmingly so, towards him until she stood right before him. Nami's movements had been especially subtle when it came to hiding her back, drawing attention to other parts by using classic magician techniques. A hand motion there, a sway there, one quick movement of hair. It had been perfected when she had once been a thief. Thinking about it, magicians and thief's weren't so different in their performances and skills. It was all about the grand act. And this was literally the act of a lifetime.

Arlong's grin turned lecherous with power. He thought her helpless under her might, it was literally the only way for him to get off, which is why today he would fall today. She got a bit closer to him, inch by inch. Centimeter by centimeter. Her feet padded against the soft carpet without sound. It seemed he was just going to let her get close before making any demands. Perfect.

"Take off my pants," he growled with emphasizes. She was only too happy to accommodate. Slowly, she lowered to her knees, keeping eye contact at all times. She knew he enjoyed it and eye contact in general was just an excellent way to distract anyone. Make them believe that they held your undivided attention when in reality you were robbing them out of house and home. Men, they were just too easy.

This was it. This was the moment to act. It almost seemed like time stopped as she leaned forward and began to unzip his pants, still keeping eye contact. Once this was done, she rose once again and pretended like she was about to put her hair. At this point, she was practically straddling him, yet through her movements, he had not taken any consideration of her back. Had not even seen it. While "tying" her hair, she slowly unleashed the blade and concealed it under her palm and upper wrist. The ability to tie hair while holding a razor sharp blade was very impressive if one was to think hard about it. In fact, it should be impossible, but that is beside the point.

Her hands lowered away from her orange locks, palms facing away from Arlong's eyes. He should have found this strange. He should have found it odd when she leaned closer of her own will. In fact, his brain was currently sending out misfired signals all over the place that this was dangerous. _She_ was dangerous. His own pride fought back, though. She was weak, female, and human. No threat. Someone that could be dominated and controlled. Pride is before the fall.

The exact same time Arlong began to raise his hand to grab at her body, a silver streak rippled across the air. His eyes widened. His expression was that of full blown shock, unbridled terror. A second cut nearly faster than what could be seen went across his face. The third cut never happened. Arlong threw a right hook to Nami's face; a punch that would have killed any other time merely rocketed her across the room and into the wall on the other side.

The irate, terrified, and still shell shocked fishman made to stand but clutched his throat instead and fell to the ground. Blood oozed between his fingers and blood began to pool in his mouth. At the same time, a red veil seemed to cover his eyes and distort his vision. Nami had cut him partially through one eye and grazed the other. He tried to take a breath but kept gurgling on the endless plasma flooding from the hole in his throat.

On the other side the room, Nami was vision swarmed with dark spots. Her head throbbed heavily, what would no doubt be an enormous bruise was already forming. Each muscle screamed to stay down, mostly because her brain and body seemed to be disconnected. No, this is the moment she had dreamed of and damn if her body would get in the way. She spat out a wad of blood and attempted to get into a crouched position. Nami's eyes widened in terror when a cold hand wrapped tightly around her neck and lifted her three feet of the ground, face to face with the most terrifying stare she had ever known.

His eyes were rimmed red, beyond rage. Blood gushed from his mouth and the open wound through his windpipe. One eye was crying tears of blood, curtsey of her quick skills with a blade. He opened his mouth to speak but only ragged coughing came out, splattering her face in blood. He couldn't talk, but his face did it for him. It screamed how dare she do this. A fucking human. Arlong was going to kill her… or would have.

What with the blurred vision and concussion, she had nearly forgotten about the second part of the plan. Nami was reminded a moment later when a gun barrel was leveled on Arlong's temple and exploded in a brilliant flash of white, red, and yellow. The sudden loud noise caused Nami to squeeze her eyes shut in pain as the change in sound irritated her concussion and set off fireworks behind her eyelids. It was probably for the best, considering this meant she didn't see Arlong's brain come out the other side of his skull.

The fishman fell like a puppet with its strings cut, dropping Nami and falling to the side in a crumpled heap. Nami had barely hit the ground before Nojiko was beside her. The older sister pulled baby sister into her arms and cuddled her close. Soft and comforting hands stroked through her hair. Nami attempted to look at her sister but grimaced when she tried to turn her head. The pain that had stayed at bay was now coming with full force and her consciousness began to fade.

The last thing she saw was her sister before it all went dark.

* * *

 **A/N: I wrote this chapter a little differently than the others, deciding to stay with Nami's third person limited perspective for the duration of this chapter. If you liked it great, if not... sorry? Next chapter we get some more information on what was happening while Nami was in Arlong's room and Nami's past. We also catch up with our favorite marine crew.**

 **Tell me what you thought in the comments. Until next chapter. Also, no Omake this chapter.**


	11. Firmen v Zoro

**A/N: Before anything, I'd like to apologize for this chapter being a day late. I was in a lot of pain Friday (still am) so I couldn't get it done. Anyway, a lot of people liked the third person limited point of view so I'll be doing it as standard instead of my usual third-person omniscient point of view from now on.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

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Firmen was the first one drop down from the ship onto the shore. He looked around and yawned as a few others splashed down beside him; the little lad named Coby that his partner Jackson had taken a liking to was among them. The kid, still lacking in basic training, stumbled and fell forward into the shallow water, getting a laugh from those around before being helped up. Coby had more spunk than anyone expected and laughed along with the crewmates. It brought a smile to Firmen's face.

He often wondered if this was what the marines use to look like before Garp's punishment and the new Fleet Admiral took charge. Before the purge began, before absolute justice and the final solution was completely enacted, before the experiments to create super soldiers, before training boy until they either dropped dead or learned how to push the limits of mankind. The Navy was not a force for good, it was evil right down to the core.

As Firmen began to march onto the island with everyone else, he felt a presence disappear. That in itself wasn't really anything to be concerned at, "voices" disappeared all the time. Whether it be an insect or plant, something was constantly dying and being born. After having his Haki awakened, Firmen had nearly been overwhelmed by it. After having it for years now, the voices were dialed down to white noise. What was troubling, or interesting, was that whatever just died had been strongest being present on the island, and whatever had just killed him had an impressively strong will. The seasoned marine turned to see Jackson already staring at him. Good, he had felt it too.

The ball of fire known as their captain appeared in front of the group of men ready to give out commands but hesitated at the last moment before opening his mouth. Seemingly dumbfounded, Luffy turned to face the inland of the island. _He must have sensed it too._

Firmen actually wasn't sure what level Luffy's Observation was on specifically, just that it was stronger than the average Grand Line marine. Impressive considering most of them were trained at very young ages nowadays, basically stolen from their parents. But in that regard, the Revolutionaries had honestly become no different. Firmen's own Haki was strong. Strong enough to hunt devil fruit users anyway, which had been his and Jackson's task in the Navy.

"Hey, guys…"

Firmen along with everyone else turns to see Luffy scratching his face while looking around. "I think Arlong just got killed. I also don't think there are any fishman left on this island."

Zoro, who is standing the closest to Luffy right now, raises an eyebrow in confusion. A squeal of joy comes from Usopp's direction. A wave of muttering breaks out before Chars asks Luffy to explain.

"Um, well Firmen told me that fishmen are stronger than normal humans. I've not been around a lot of people and you guys are pretty strong, so my frame of reference could be off, but all I know is that the strongest thing on the island just got killed. Observation Haki isn't picking up anything stronger than average either."

Lax speaks up at the explanation. "Can you tell where the other fishmen went?"

The captain shrugs before Jackson properly answers the question. "I believe that the fishmen were alerted of our arrival and fled into the sea. Just before landfall, I did sense stronger than average beings fleeing the island at incredible speeds."

Luffy turns towards the older man with a spark of enlightenment. "Ohhh, so that's what that was. I thought it was just smart Sea Kings. You know some of those things can talk right?"

"I- wait what?"

Before Luffy can explain what he meant by that, a group of five men ran out of the tree line, tears already streaming from their faces. Everyone pauses and looks over to them, a range of different expressions present. The small group of what Firmen can only assume are villagers explode into hysterics; one even falling to the ground in tears. Luffy, being captain and all, gives Sanji a sideways nod that practically screams _"go say something because I'm sure not."_ Ah yes, a good captain always delegates unwanted jobs to his crew.

Firmen loved Luffy's unwillingness to give any fucks about anything that wasn't immediately vital or important. Plus, the marine had noticed Luffy wasn't on the up and up when it came to social cues and Luffy must have known that as well, instead of picking someone who was very familiar with interaction to do the introduction. The cook sighs and begins walking deeper inland to the sobbing men. Everyone else follows at a distance so as to get out of the water they were ankle deep in. Waist deep for Coby.

Sanji removes his makeshift cigarette made of rolled up wax paper and coffee grounds and begins to talk. Dear Oda, someone get this man a real cigarette and fast before he loses his mind or something.

"Excuse me, sirs, could you point us in the direction to Arlong Park?"

One of the men, an older looking guy in a doctor's jacket, springs up and puts his arms around Sanji. The blonde's face stays neutral but he tries to take a step back, failing eventually when the teary, snot faced man won't let go. His grip on Sanji's arms seems to convey this man sees his as life and death. Sanji has an impassive face but waits patiently for the man to speak.

Firmen looks around to notice a lot of the men seem a bit unnerved at this display of emotion. Usopp by far looked the wariest of all, standing behind Narry, Oakley, Pierce, and Ethan, or what had been affectionately named team N.O.P.E. as if they were human shields. Team NOPE didn't seem to mind at all, almost like they expected this. Chars, Andrew, and Lax, or team C.A.L. (pronounced 'call'), were standing close to Zoro as if he represented a comfort zone. It was probably the case considering they believed the man to be invincible.

Merry and Kaya are currently on the Going Merry, as per Usopp's wishes. Firmen believed that man would fight another pirate crew and a half to defend those people. Touching. It actually reminded him of the bond him and Jackson shared, what with the countless battles they had fought together and the fact they use to be a team of eight instead of just two left.

Firmen comes out of his thoughts and looks to see if Sanji the appointed ambassador had gotten anywhere.

"… So you want us to follow you to Arlong Park?"

The crying men nod and begin briskly walking into the woods. Luffy signals everyone to follow before thinking better of it.

"Zoro, team CAL, Firmen, Benny, Tate, and Abby. You guys stay and keep watch over the ship in case they come back. Everyone else, follow those crying old guys."

Firmen and Jackson made eye contact, having a silent conversation before the dark skinned marine rushed off to follow Luff's group. Firmen yawned, looking to see if Zoro was going to start training with team CAL or not. Honestly, it made him sad to see how little they progressed over the past two weeks. That isn't to say they hadn't improved exponentially, just he was used to a very different type of training. The training in the Navy lasted three years, then you could go to Elite Navy training if you so desired. All in all, it was about six years of training. It had been Hell.

Impel Down used to be a prison and still was. However, it was really only used for holding until the prisoner was publically executed. The prison was basically empty nowadays. Eventually, someone got the idea to use the prison for a training camp for aspiring trainees. Most tapped out at level one. Over a half never made it past level two. Levels 3-5 separated the elite from the average. You have to fight one of the wardens if you make it to the bottom. Oda help if you get the week with Shiliew of the rain. The warden or Head Jailer weren't allowed to kill or mutilate any of the trainees, but they sure could fuck your year up. Shiliew made sure one man couldn't lay on his back for three months once on a whim. Firmen and Jackson had the "good luck" of getting Magellan. They hadn't been official partners at the time, but damn, going through a literal Hell sure does forge a bond. Especially the three weeks recovering from the poison together in the infirmary.

To his knowledge only the elite of the elite who later became Purgers had posed a critical threat to one of the wardens. Apparently, Haruko Haruhana and Inigo Diabolus had been in the same group when they did their Impel Down trial. The girl who was currently fourth in Purge ranking had nearly brought the entire structure crumbling down and the man who currently ranked first nearly split Magellan into two pieces with his Haki cutting technique. Those two were unquestionably monsters among humans.

So it was with a hint of sadness Firmen watch Zoro train with Chars, Lax, and Andrew. If they ever went up against a Grand Line warrior, even a low level one, they would be crushed like ants. He couldn't allow that to happen. By the time they got to Loguetown he would make sure they all were able to use Haki.

He needed to bring a certain swordsman around though before any intense training could happen, however.

"Zoro, come down here for a second."

The swordsman told his apprentices to take five and jumped from the ship, landing with a splash near Firmen who was standing at the base of the shore.

"What's up Firmen," asked Zoro, sweat glinting off his forehead from the light training he had started. Firmen wasn't sure when it happened, but the swordsman trusted him. Not only that but saw him as a friend. It brought a smile to his face.

"I'd like to propose a dual. If I win, you don't object to the most intense training of your life."

As expected, Zoro's face took on a shit eating grin that could rival Luffy's. This man truly loved to fight and by the looks of it, he had secretly been itching to battle a strong opponent. He was ready to go. It was a crying shame that Firmen was going to have to take the piss out of him.

"Where and when," asked Zoro, already palming the hilt of his sword, eyes nearly a light in passion. Firmen met the stare head on with a determined grin. Okay, this might be fun after all.

"As soon as I find my sword we will begin." Seriously, he had no idea where that thing was.

/-/

On the way to Arlong Park, the old men had led the party of marines through a small town. It had seemed normal in the beginning, but as they continued to walk, Luffy noticed people had gotten on their knees as if Gods themselves were present. A small child had been about to run up to them before a mother swooped in, grabbed the child's head, and thrust it downward so that the little girl would be in bowing position like the rest of them. What with all the townsfolk weeping and praying to them at the same time, all the voices merged together into some twisted dirge. It set the captain on edge more than he would ever admit.

One of the mourners broke away and approached him quickly, head down and eyes looking at the dirt. In his hand was a single orange to which he was offering to Luffy. The teen looked at the decrepit older man, then back to the offering. Gently he took the fruit from the man and muttered thanks. Without looking up the man nodded vigorously and moved back into a spot a few meters away, once again prostrating himself. Luffy turned to the other marines as he peeled the citrus fruit, but they all had similar expressions ranging from disbelief to disgust and everything in between.

They eventually left the borders of the town as the dirt path went through a sparse forest. Something felt wrong through. Despite the sun shining, despite being able to hear the sound of songbirds, this island felt dead. It felt like his island, which was about as dead as a body of land could get. Luffy listened to with Observation Haki instead of his ears and connected with the vegetation around him. They two sang a song of mourning.

This added to the many other things Luffy was wondering about this island, though one thing still stuck out. The moment they had made landfall he sensed a powerful person fighting a significantly weaker person. The first attack had been what caught Luffy's attention, however. Unmistakably, there had been a flash of Haki in that first move. Dear Oda, the hatred he had sensed in that first attack rivaled his own. The rest of the fight was hard to pick up on because no more Haki had been used.

"Sanji," whispered Luffy to the cook currently at the head of the group. When the cook didn't hear, Luffy simply rolled his eyes and jogged up to the blonde's position. When he got there he noticed that Sanji didn't look too good. Like at all. The man was jittering all over the place and clinging to the makeshift cigarette made of wax paper and coffee ground like it was his final lifeline to reality. It was then Luffy realized Sanji had actually lit the damn thing and was currently smoking coffee.

 _Somebody get this guy a real cigarette before he loses his mind. Wait a second, coffee is like cigarettes right? Makino used to say she couldn't function without her morning coffee, so maybe since they both act as physiological crutches, smoking coffee probably would be the second best thing?!_

Luffy pat himself on the back for figuring that one out. Clearly, Sanji still needed to get some tobacco in his throat, though. Nobody wanted to be around when the coffee stopped being able to take the edge off.

"Hey, Sanji," he whispered a bit louder into Sanji's ear. The cook stopped shaking for a second before going back to a fit of jitters and mumbles about cigars. Don't smoke kids.

"Sanji, who do you think killed Arlong?"

"How the hell should I know? You're the one with the crazy Observation Haki," sputtered out the chef, still going through the early signs of withdrawal. He took a rather large drag on his coffee cigarette and let out a shaky breath. Luffy decided that he should assign someone else to be the ambassador for their group until a certain addict got his daily fix.

Scanning the group, his landed on Usopp. No, that would be no good. Usopp didn't appear to be a very sociable person at the best of times and seemed to be a pathological liar. Plus, even though he was surrounded by tough, some even battle hardened marines, he was wiggling almost as much as the resident chain smoker. Hell, Coby looked more confident.

No one really stuck out until he realized Jackson could easily fill the role. He was strong, fairly good looking, and leveled headed. Plus could easily make comfortable conversation. It was no wonder Coby took a liking to him so quickly. Luffy was about to open his mouth to call him over but faltered. Maybe he should act more like a captain and be the one that introduces his crew to the natives? Naw, fuck that. If he was meeting another captain then sure, but introductions always seemed like too much effort anyway.

"Oi, Jackson. Come over here for a second," yelled/whispered to Jackson. The older marine looked over to him and walked over, Coby following closely behind.

"What's wrong Luffy?"

A grin settled on the captain's face. "It's nothing really. I just want you to handle the introductions until Sanji finds tobacco again. At this point, if someone handed Sanji a syringe filled with nicotine he might have injected it without a forethought.

Jackson shrugged like it made no difference to him. "Sure captain."

Luffy was about to make some idle chat to pass the time but was interrupted by the voice of old guy number one.

"We are here…Arlong Park."

The man had said the name as if the very building itself was a malevolent being. Some of the marines seemed to share the sentiment, gawking at the massive structure. Psh, it was just a building, nothing special. Hell, Luffy could evaporate this place if he so chooses. Speaking of, he needs to get some practice in. At the dinner table last night, Firmen told one of his tales from the Grand Line about fighting a group called Germa 66 before the World Government Allied with them.

 _"We were outnumbered 2,000 to 20. The situation was completely hopeless. Let me tell you, no one has experienced terror until they face off against Germa 66 and their army of genetic beast. Can't even call the guys human if you ask me. Anyway, Jackson, me, and 18 others bravely went into battle, Haki exploding from every fiber of our beings. By the end, I had sustained over 300 inju_ _ries, but my fight was just beginning. Out of nowhere, Niji Vinsmoke bum rushes me; thought he could take me out he did. Let me tell you, I gave him the old 1, 2, 3! Taught the fool not to underestimate marine base 'Alpha Wolf of the Imperial Crusaders!'_ _"_

 _"What type of marine base name is that? I thought they went by numbers?"_

 _"That they do Usopp, but in the Grand Line, how cool your name is reflects ranking. Our base was only one base away from Purger status. Anyway, Niji pulled a bomb ass maneuver and got a shot in. Nearly killed me in one hit while in full body Haki. The bastard was strong, as much as I hate to admit it. Think about it! A fresh-faced_ _ **boy**_ _was about to be the thing that brought down a true warrior like me. A man who had fought countless battles and many an enemy who were twelve times more horrifying than this lad. Rubbish is what it is. Those Vinsmokes boys are all rotten to the very core. Scum of the earth those boys are. Any son that was made with Judge Vinsmoke's DNA is complete trash if you ask me. Unrelated note, this dinner is like an orgasm in my mouth! Bravo Sanji! Could I get seconds?"_

 _"Coming right up."_

 _"Thanks! Where was I? Oh yes, I was staring death in the face; all the bones in my body were broken. Yet, I stood to face what would most likely be my final battle, but I never gave him the satisfaction of seeing me falter. He rushed me at speeds that could make Admiral Light Show do a double take. I tried to feint, but tripped on my shattered ankle and broken toes, leaving me open for an attack. He threw a devastating punch I blocked with my broken arm. Yeah, it hurt like hell. I'm not ashamed of it. Anyway, I was basically a goner, but then an angel came to my aid. A very simple-minded and strong angel. You kind of remind me of her Luffy."_

 _"Was…was that an insult or compliment."_

 _"Don't think about it too much. Anyway, Purger number 16 had shown up and she was pissed. She intercepted Niji and fought him with blistering fury, matching blow for blow. His electric technique had no effect and the blonde devil was forced to retreat like the bitch his family is. That woman, dear god her red hair… I still have dreams about it. Her punches were like two pistols of pure power. But what I remember most of all is her smile; not once did she ever stop smiling. It must have shocked that Vinsmoke lad quite a bit. After she had chased him away, she picked up my broken form and rushed me to safety; all the while she giggled and dodged the explosions happening around us. It's still one of my fondest memories."_

…

 _"Usopp, are you crying?"_

Yep, Luffy had learned two things from that story. One, Firmen was clearly in love with that redheaded marine. Two, people in the Grand Line were strong as hell. Tanking Haki infused hits, moving at subsonic speeds, fighting for hours on end. It seemed crazy. Plus how well did he stand up to guys like that? The only option was to get stronger.

Coming out of his train of thought, Luffy saw that the old guys were attempting to move the massive stone gate. Emphasizes on trying. Rolling his eyes, the captain walked to the front of the group and placed a hand on the cool surface. Instinctively everyone took a step back.

"Ashes to Ashes."

Nothing happened at first, well not anything that someone who hadn't awakened Haki could see. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Jackson's eyes had gone wide. A very thin film of Haki coated the entire gate and wall. Luffy focused his power until he had all the information he needed. He generated heat intense enough to easily melt the flesh off a bone, yet the marines standing near felt nothing. All the flare was trapped within the film covering the wall and the wall didn't last long. After a few more seconds Luffy back away from the wall to check his handy work.

The once stone colored wall was now completely blackened. There were large amounts of black steam rising from the structure, pluming into large clouds. Wait, that wasn't smoke; it was ash. As the breeze blew by, more and more of the wall disappeared until it was like the stone gate had never existed in the first place. Luffy smiled to himself.

Ashes to Ashes was his strongest offensive technique, so it was good to see the field test went well. The ability worked by finding the specific heat of anything (Luffy had yet to find his limit), coat the object in Haki so as to reduce heat loss though it wasn't completely necessary, and finally reduce the object to ash. Depending on how high the specific heat of the object was, the time it took could vary. A very versatile move that could kill a human within two seconds granted they had no Haki. Otherwise, he would either have to exhaust their Haki reserves by fighting or overpower them in a battle of wills. The captain would rather avoid the latter since he didn't really know how he compared to others when it came to Haki.

Luffy looked back up and spotted a girl in the courtyard walking towards them. She had ice blue hair, a shirt of indiscernible color due to the amount of blood clinging to the fabric. Her eyes were midnight green and cold enough to put out fires. Most concerning of all, however, was the second girl that was being carried bridal style by her. It was surreal to the point that Luffy barely noticed that the girl had gotten closer to him with each step and before he knew it, they were staring each other in the eye.

She lifted the unconscious girl in her hands and Luffy instantly went to hold her, removing the burden from the other girl. Her green eyes nearly hypnotized the captain, his voice catching in his throat. She smiled, mouthed a thank you, and then passed out.

Before she could hit the ground, however, Sanji seemingly teleported next to Luffy and caught her with gentle arms.

The captain looked down at the orange haired girl now resting in his arms. Despite the blood caking to her body, despite the frown she bared while sleeping, and despite the bruise that covered 75% of her face, Luffy couldn't help to think that she was beautiful.

/-/

Zoro and Firmen walked through the forest at a relaxed pace, each with a sword attached to their hips. Well, three for Zoro, but that wasn't exactly the point. The santoryu user was genuinely excited for this sparring session. He could practically feel the power radiating off his fellow crewmember. This would be good practice to see how he measured up to a Grand Line veteran and by extension how he measured up the World's Greatest Swordsman.

Firmen, who was leading the way, stopped and looked around. They were in a large clearing with trees surrounding them on all side, grass tall enough to reach their waist, and an open canopy to let sunlight in.

"This place will do," breathed Firmen, drawing his sword from the embroidered sheath and revealing a well-made, but simple in design, two-edged long sword. It boasted a black pommel, rounded cross guard, and a wooden handle wrapped in red grip cloth. Simple, but Zoro didn't doubt it would get the job done.

"Her name is Fay if you're wondering Zoro," said Firmen, looking the blade over in the sun. "As you know, I usually use Fay's sister weapons, two karambit knives. In the Navy, after you have proven yourself worthy, they will give you a large block of top quality metal to forge a blade from. Most have some left over, so we often use the surplus to make knives. It can't really be explained in words, but a special bond is formed between man and weapon when he forged it with his own hands. When you make a sword I think you leave a piece of yourself in it. I've cut down many a strong foe with this blade."

Firmen looked back at Zoro and began chuckling to himself. "Sorry, I was rambling again. Let us prepare for battle."

Zoro…was no longer feeling cocky in his victory. This man was clearly on a higher level than any East Blue marine like Chars could ever reach alone. Still, he would fight with every fiber of his being, just like always. He tied his bandanna around his for head and placed Wado Ichimonji in his mouth before drawing his two inferior swords with both hands. Then he turned to face Firmen, who seemed to find this a little amusing.

"The rules are simple. Don't strike if your opponent has taken a knee or is struggling to breathe face down in the dirt. In the spirit of fairness, I will not use Armament or Observation Haki. Sound good?"

Zoro brow twitched at the Haki part since it would mean Firmen was going easy on him but relented. Haki was simply too strong an ability to go against if you didn't have it. Plus this was going to be about testing swordsmanship anyway. "I agree. The spar begins now."

As he spoke the last word Zoro rushed Firmen in an attempt to gain an advantage. He crossed the 10-foot gap between them with one bound, his right sword already swinging down to cut Firmen across the chest. Zoro eyes widened and he immediately changed formation, bringing his right and left blades over his chest a second before the tip of Firmen blade hit him. The jab from the Firmen's double edged sword stopped Zoro dead and despite successfully blocking it; air and spittle exploded from Zoro's gaping mouth before flying backward several yards. The swordsman, in spite of sudden vertigo and lightheadedness, landed on his feet.

The force of that jab was so great that when Zoro's feet hit the ground he kept sliding backward, having to dig his heels into the soft dirt to finally come to a full stop. It took more power than Zoro would ever admit just to keep standing after such a blow. Looking directly in front of him, he saw that Firmen had not moved or tried to capitalize on his attack; instead of letting Zoro get his breath. The marine did still have his guard up, ready for anything. Firmen wasn't counting Zoro out yet and Zoro didn't plan to go down so easily again.

 _I can't take his hits head on. Only parrying and dodging for now._

With that in mind, Zoro once again rushed forward. The only difference was that Firmen had rushed to meet his attack, this time, apparently going on the offensive as well. Zoro twisted his left and right sword around so as to cleave Firmen's head and torso in one to just allow that to happen, Firmen feinted quickly with a pivot from his right foot, moving around Zoro and breaching his left guard. Zoro jumped away from the inevitable strike but was still struck with the flat of Firmen's blade on his side.

The strike didn't penetrate the skin, instead of leaving an incredibly painful welt and large bruising. Zoro jumped backward, putting distance between him and Firmen, wincing every time left side moved. This wasn't working. Firmen was much faster than Zoro thought previously and his reflects were heightened to the point he might as well be using Observation Haki. If Zoro could get him off balance for a second then he might have a chance. It was time to test a move he had been working on with Chars.

Zoro charged forward again, preparing his signature. Firmen doesn't move, but brings up his guard and prepares to defend and counter.

"Onigiri!"

The three swords flared and swung at irregular angles before as if by magic, converging on a single point. At that point where all three swords overlap, Firmen thrust his blade, catching all three swords on the tip of his and parried them to the side. Now with Zoro's guard wide open, he turned his sword in reverse grip and drove his sword's pommel deep into his opponent's gut.

Blood erupted from Zoro's mouth and his eyes went bloodshot before glazing over in agony. The power behind the strike no doubt broke a rib or two and bruised the rest. Zoro's entire bottle went into shock and seized up, his body sending warning bells everywhere that he was about to shut down.

So it was probably with great surprised to Firmen, who no doubt knew this should have ended the fight, felt something slam into the back of his head. Zoro struck him again with the butt of his sword handle in the temple, causing Firmen to stagger to the left. Capitalizing on the opening, Zoro released his new move.

"108 Pound Phoenix!"

A large blue spiral of kinetic energy ripped through the air and ground as if it were paper. Considering how close he and Firmen were, only a few feet apart, the experienced marine shouldn't be able to dodge. Not to mention Firmen's vision was still swarming from the blunt force trauma he had suffered. Zoro could only watch in satisfaction as his crewmate was enveloped in the blinding blue light. His shit eating grin did lose some of its power when blood continued to pour from his mouth. Eh, don't sweat the small stuff.

As the attack finally dissipated, a smoking crater was found in its place. That was pretty good considering this was his first trail run with the new attack, but something was wrong. Where was-

A figure flew from the smoke so quickly it only appeared to be a shadow until it was right in front of Zoro, wearing a shit-eating grin as well.

"Surprise cock bag!"

A silver streak was all Zoro glimpsed before being smacked in the face with the flat of Fay. The force nearly broke his neck, his body barely able to keep up with his head. Everything in Zoro's field of vision flipped upside down, right side up, horizontal, and vertical as he twisted through the air. He finally came to a sudden halt when his back impacted painfully with the ground and everything went white for a full minute. The inside of his head sounded like 500 alarm clocks all ringing at once. As his vision came back, so did the feeling in the rest of his body, though it felt like millions of pins and needles all over his form.

To Zoro's great distress, a hand roughly pulled him up to his feet causing his vision to swarm once again. It was also one jolt too many for his stomach and he found himself doubled over vomiting out everything he'd eaten in the past month. The soft hand rubbing his back didn't help either.

"It's okay Zoro, it happens to the best of us. Don't worry, however, because by the time I'm done with you, you'll be able to take punishment like this for breakfast. I won't rest until not only you have awakened Haki, but are strong enough to cut mountains in half and by extension, you will not be getting any rest either."

 _No more rest? Fuck._

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 **A/N: Well, that happened. I hope you guys enjoyed the fight scene; I really tried to write it as polished as possible. Yes, Firmen and Jackson have Haki. Every marine in the Grand Line does so why wouldn't they? This chapter also kind of catches Firmen in a lie that happened in chapter three, but I refuse to tell what it is. Looks like he will also be upping everyone's training. Now only God save them… I think it is pretty clear where the fishmen on the island went, but it will be explained further in the next chapter by Nojiko. Also if you are wondering, Only Nami and Nojiko knew about the plan; no one else in the town knew.**

 **Oh, I want to announce that I will be starting a new story sometime in November. Haven't settled on a title for now, but I can say it will be a Crime Thriller/Comedy with Law and Luffy as the main characters. I don't know what it is but I love the humor dynamic between them. Anyway, that's it for me. Till next chapter.**


	12. Firmen's Training

**A/N: New chapter. Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Duh.

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Luffy was bored. It had been nearly two hours since they had landed on this island and not a single thing of interest had occurred. In fact, the only reason why they were still here was because his crew asked for a break from sailing for a day. Also, there was the fact that Sanji ran off jabbering nonsense, in search of any source of tobacco on this island.

The captain, in the lack of anything better to do, was sitting in the clinic of the small town. Nami, or at least that is what the doctor called her, was resting on the bed next to his chair. He couldn't exactly place the reason, but she interested him. Now in no way was he attracted to her romantically – Luffy didn't even understand that concept – just that she had beat Arlong, an apparently very dangerous fishman. Well, dangerous relativity speaking. Also, he could have sworn she used Haki during the fight. Subconsciously no doubt, but still awakened.

It was night time at the moment and most of the crew would usually be in bed, but apparently Firmen went on some sort of mission to increase the strength of everyone. Luffy had popped by to see if he needed help, but the screams of agony told him that Firmen was doing just fine. Everyone else…well that was a different story. To be completely honest, when Firmen and Jackson came to him so that he could sign off on some kind of weird torture machine that "motivates" people to develop Haki, Luffy had agreed without a second thought. Eh, they'll be fine.

Zoro had actually come into the clinic a few minutes ago looking for alcohol. After getting a lecture on the reasons for not drinking medical alcohol by the doctor in charge, he left to looking in the Arlong Park remains. The swordsman had looked pretty banged up. The entire right side of his face was a purplish yellow and his nose was bent at an angle. When asked about it, Zoro simply shrugged and muttered the word 'spar.' The implied next word would probably be Firmen.

Jackson, however, had not relented dear Coby into that maniacs control. He and he alone will train the kid to fight. Luffy entertained no thoughts that Jackson's training would be any easier. Like his fellow Grandline marine, he knew the importance of strength and Haki when it came to fighting. Jackson did seem like more of the strategist of the two, so Coby's education will probably go farther than mere swordplay and combat. Luffy had faith in Coby though, feeling the strong will the boy had deep within. Once awakened, his Haki power would be great.

Luffy had heard from Firmen that Usopp was also participating in the training. Well more like taking a dirt nap half the time, but still getting there. The long-nosed kid had forbidden Kaya or Merry from training, saying that he would get strong for both of them. Because of this, Kaya and Usopp are currently hanging out in the local library.

Yawning loudly, Luffy went back to looking back at the mystifying orange haired girl. Nami had begun to whimper in her sleep and toss about under the thin covers. The marine captain lifted his hand and gently brushed a stray hair from her bruised face, then softly petted her silky hair. It was an action that Makino and even Ace (though he would never admit to it) did when Luffy had felt troubled. It was also one of the final actions Ace did before dying, attempting to comfort his little brother through the pain of losing an eye.

After losing everyone, Luffy was in a state of denial and grieving all at once. Night after night of tears went by, yet the comforting hand was gone. So in an effort to grasp hold of anything with substance, Luffy retreated deep within his mind to find comfort. After many days in meditation that would make a monk jealous, the Straw Hat found something. Though it was far from the comfort he sought after.

It was blazing hot, like a raging inferno fueled by raw emotion. For the first time in many days, his body had felt warmth again. This power…infinite in supply it seemed. All for him if only he would give in and let hate take over. It wasn't comforting, but it was something. Better than staying empty forever. So he reached out and touched it, letting power infuse with his spirit as if gaining the strength to fight again. It was the power of the flare flare fruit. It spoke… and he listened.

But Nami did not have a devil fruit to guide her. Plus it was not necessary for her to go without a comforting hand when he was right beside her. Despite never speaking to this girl before, she felt similar to him in a way, so he gladly leased a gentle hand because he knew what it was like to not have one. After a few minutes, she calmed down and leaned into the caresses, greedy for the comfort they brought. Having nothing else to do, Luffy continued.

"You know I'd do that myself if I wasn't so tired."

Luffy looked up from Nami and glanced at the girl who laying on next bed over. Searching his mind, he remembered that the doctor had called her Nojiko. She was currently sitting up on both elbows, staring at him with a hint of mirth.

"I thought she looked distressed so I tried to comfort her," explains Luffy, already feeling a bit wearily of this ice blue haired girl. Her smile only widens.

"Sounds like what I always expected to hear from a marine captain."

Luffy didn't really know how to respond to that. He wasn't a marine captain, not a real one anyway. Apparently, he played the part well, though, everyone who didn't know his secret never caught on.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask away captain," responded Nojiko, not breaking I contact. Luffy couldn't place it, but the girls stare caught him off guard a bit. He had gotten too used to the friendly smiles of his crew, almost forgetting that these types of stares also exist. Her eyes had a hidden knowledge, which probably tends to happen when you aren't stuck on an island alone for 9 years with only a devil fruit and the fish to talk to. Seriously, though, he swore some of those fish were talking.

"Why did the fishmen leave? Also, which one of you killed Arlong?"

The mirth in Nojiko's eyes faded and receded into nothing. She fully sat up and swung her legs over the bed, letting them dangle over the edge. "One of their scouts – an octopus named Hachi – spotted your ship a few days ago and had been tracking its movements. After it was surely confirmed that your ship was headed here, he came and alerted everyone. Seeing that they didn't have time to take anything with them, no one was willing to take the risk of being forced to fight someone of Grandline caliber, they fled to the other side of the island before jumping into the water and swimming away."

The captain nodded, a little surprised he didn't sense a scout near the ship. While he did usually keep his Observation Haki somewhat active at all time, it could be hard to sense something without any clear killing intent or something without a large power level. Sentient beings were a bit easier to find, but the sea wasn't as straight forward as the land. Luffy – who was sure he wasn't hallucinating at the time – talked to a Sea King he had been about to kill once. After the enlightening experience, Luffy began listening to the voices of the ocean and found that while most were jumbled gibberish, he could hear a stray coherent thought or two. Another reason he might have passed off a scout as just a really smart Sea King.

Nojiko breathed in and out before starting again. "As for your second question, it was a both me and my sister that killed Arlong. Nami went in first to wound him and I came in later to finish the job."

As she finished, her eyes flickered to the table on the other side of the room where a pistol and knife rested. Each being stained red with blood. The objects seemed to stumble her train of thought for a second, though she quickly recovered and made eye contact with him once again. "Now I have a few questions for you."

"Let's hear them."

"First off, what's your name?"

"Monkey D. Luffy."

"Nice Name. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

At this, she seemed to falter a bit and unlike the last time was slow on the recovery. "You're only seventeen and you're a Navy captain already? Also, you seem so…you seem like you've seen all already."

What did she mean by that? Luffy didn't really know and cared little, instead opting to wait for the next question. He honestly had no idea on the minimum age limit for marine captains; keeping his mouth shut was probably for the best.

Shaking her head, Nojiko continued. "Okay then. Did the doctor say anything about Nami?"

Hearing the concern thick in her voice reminded him of his own brothers. "She will be fine. The doctor said that she suffered a slight concussion and pulled back muscle." Luffy lifted her hair to the side to show the bandage across her forehead. When she began whimpering at the loss of contact he immediately went back to petting.

"Other than that, she will be bruised in a few areas and will find it a bit hard to talk. He also said you'd be fine after a little rest, seeing that you passed out from emotional exhaustion."

Well, this had been the second time Luffy played the part of Doctor Luffy and he felt it went a bit better this time.

"Excuse me Captain Luffy."

He looked up from his thoughts, seeing that she had gotten up from the bed she was sitting at. "Can I have a few minutes alone with my sister please?"

Luffy nodded and stood, Nojiko taking his seat a second later. Seeing that the conversation had ended and there was nothing to do, Luffy walked to the exit.

"I do hope we can speak to each other again Captain."

Luffy looked back and smile. "Sure." And then he was gone.

/-/

Kaya was seated in an old, but a very comfortable leather chair. It was the only place to sit in the small library, leaving Merry to be forced to stand while he read _A Complete Collection of Famous Butlers throughout History_. A book that Kaya was surprised existed, much less was available at a library with such a small section.

It had been a challenge to find any books on the medical field and the ones she had found were mostly outdated. The old leather-bound book in her hands now was _Natural Remedies and How to Stop Internal Bleeding._ She had been pleasantly surprised at the amount of knowledge it held and the many different tricks there were when it came to stopping internal bleeding.

It had only taken three minutes of watching what Firmen called training to foresee Usopp getting severely injured trying to be something he wasn't. Since she wouldn't be fighting, it only made sense to become useful in another way. The ship lacked a proper doctor – Jackson or Narry usually taking care of the injured – so she would gladly attempt to fill the role until a more qualified person joined. It wasn't just for Usopp sake either; over the past few weeks, she grew to actually care for the members of the Navy ship. Each one seemed to have a kind heart, despite showing it through violence occasionally.

Not even a few day ago, Benny and Lax got into such a heated argument that Lax challenged him to a dual. When Kaya later asked Captain Luffy why he would allow such a thing, he responded that men sometimes need to settle things with their fist.

Benny, who fought with metal gauntlets and was trained personally by Jackson, was a tall, stocky man. His skin was a bronzish red, which fit well with his fiery temper. His built betrayed how swift he was, however, something Lax learned quickly. Despite this, Lax was still at the advantage of speed, being the fastest when not including the team leaders and captain. His rapier left welt after welt on Benny who just couldn't seem to get a hit in. Each strike hit the air, Lax always being a millisecond to quick. She wouldn't go as far as to say the fight was one-sided; if Benny had gotten in a good punch then it would have ended the match.

In the end, it was Luffy who called the spar off, seeing that Benny would keep going until he bled out. Afterward at dinner after Benny was patched up, he and Lax could be seen sitting and joking together again as if no fight ever occurred. Male comradery was a wonder sometimes.

What worried her was that Usopp shared the sentiment with Luffy that sometimes men needed to trade blows to understand each other. She shuttered to think about how badly Usopp would fare in a spar with one of these _soldiers._ If she was watching, he would never give up. Fighting until unconsciousness if necessary to not lose face. Another reason Kaya would have to purchase and study this book before leaving.

"Miss Kaya, I found a book that might interest you," spoke Merry while holding a book in front of her face. She thanked him and took it from his grasp.

"Let's see here. _Fixing Pinocchio: A Complete Guide to Setting and Healing a Longer than Average Nose._ Oh, Merry, this is perfect!"

/-/

 _I think my nose is broken._

Usopp attempted picked himself off the ground, vision becoming spotty with black dots. Maybe it was his body telling him to stay down for the love of god? Well, there was no god, there was only Firmen. A steel tip boot nudged Usopp's side as if checking to see if he was still alive. _Are they actually trying to kill me?_

"Come on Usopp, I know you got more in the tank. Get up before I help you up."

Not wanting to find out what Firmen considered "help," Usopp forced his wobbly legs to hold up his body weight. He didn't even know it was possible to be numb and in agony at the same time, but apparently, they were not mutually exclusive feelings. Even as he stood upright, his sight was still catching up, random flashes of darkness still on the edge of his vision.

"Common Usopp, wipe the blood from your mouth and buck up. Be more like ol Chars over there, taking it like a champ."

Usopp looked to the other side of the clearing and saw that Chars was currently face down in a pool of blood. Apparently "taking it like a champ" meant literally not being able to move. Like, was Chars even still alive? The sad part was that Usopp was actually getting leniency when it came to the training since he wasn't a swordsman. The swordsmen were going through hell.

Firmen had brought out some sort of medieval looking device that looked like metal boots. The swordsmen would take turns in the heavy metal stocks, making it impossible to move from the spot they were placed. The rules were simple. Parry what you can, when you can't parry dodge, and when you cannot do either, take it. The "game" was called Lock Down and it was apparently how the marines taught swordsmanship in the Grand Line. Many were confused as to what taking it meant, but that was soon cleared up.

The gunmen of the crew were not forced to go through Lock Up. Instead, they were taken to an open clearing and pinned up against Jackson in hand-to-hand melee combat. The reasoning being that you never know when you might run out of ammo and be forced to fight. This also helped train them to aim and shoot on the fly, instructed to try to shoot Jackson before he caught them. Knowing he pulled each punch didn't bring much comfort either.

"F-Flllur… I nnnned a five min break," choked out Usopp before falling back on the ground.

 _On second thought, five minutes isn't enough. Five years sounds pretty good right now._

To his horror, Usopp felt hands roughly pulling him up to a standing position. "Now, now Usopp. I can't let people start thinking I'm giving you special treatment can I," whispered Firmen in a sugary voice. "Now get a move on!"

Usopp was roughly thrown further into the clearing at the feet of his training opponent. Tate was the guy's name. Looking closely, Usopp could see that he was incredibly toned despite looking a bit on the slim side. Like most of the others on the ship he had a slight tan, giving his skin a light brown glow. It contrasted nicely with his fair colored hair and light blue eyes. Tate fought with metal elbow and knee pads combined with martial arts. He had been personally trained by Firmen, though was a heck of a lot nicer. However, that didn't mean he ever took it easy in a spar.

"You ready to go again Usopp," he asked in an unnaturally suave voice.

 _No!_

"Yes. Just let me get up."

As the sniper rose from the ground on his own power this time, he removed the slingshot hanging from his belt. Looking up, he faced his chiseled opponent. _Note to self, never let Kaya see him shirtless._ Usopp was proud of the marks on the skin he had caused. Fighting this guy had forced him to think out the box, the resolute being a completely new move set of trick shots and maneuvers. Though if he was being honest, those hits were most likely resolute of Tate being tired after sparing with Benny, Andrew, Ethan, and even arguably the strongest non-leader, Chars.

Usopp had also been penned against a few of them and it usually ended the same way. Actually, it always ended the same way. Him lying face down in the dirt. It was good motivation to become quicker, so the training methods couldn't be completely scorned.

"Begin!"

 _Wait what?_

Usopp leaped backward on instinct, missing a callused fist by the skin on his nose. A smoke star was already dropped before the next move could be thrown, exploding on impact and filling the area in a veil of darkness. Then, making as little noise as possible, he shifted to Tate's side with three flame stars already loaded.

 _Flame Star!_

The first one connected with Tate's hand that came up to block the attack despite not being able to see through the smoke. The other two hit air as the marine feinted back, dodging the last 2/3rds of the attack.

Usopp lost track of him after this, the smoke suddenly becoming his disadvantage. A little tingle in the back of head told to duck, a warning bell that he listened to. Not a moment later, a strike flew overhead, missing him completely. Another tingle warned him of an attack coming from below. An attack that sadly he wasn't physically spry enough to avoid. All that could be done was brace for impact…and what an impact it was.

The metal knee pad slammed into Usopp's stomach with the force of a cannonball, forcing all the air from his lungs in less than a second. That was all the damage Usopp's body could take and a half. He collapsed on the ground, dry heaving up nothing but carbon dioxide and spittle. He'd already thrown up so many times it looked like there was nothing left in the tank.

In the face of the intense physical punishment, Usopp still found it in him to be happy. He was definitely getting stronger, it would just take a while. With the comforting thought in mind, he drifted off to the realm of unconsciousness.

/-/

The green haired Straw Hat swordsman was currently swimming his way back to the mainland. Despite it having grown dark outside, the full moon still shines with enough light to make travel possible. He had trained on his own for most of the day after sparring with Firmen.

Zoro was never one to try and take the easy way out when it came to training. Now was no different. He had not only swam out to open sea but all the way to a small outcropping of reef formation. After making it to solid land, he took a three-minute break to recover from swimming a few miles. Once the break was over, he swam to the ocean floor and practiced all his techniques under the intense pressure for a few hours, coming up for air periodically. Seeing as it was late, he began swimming back the ship.

It wasn't until a few more hours went by that Zoro realized that he might be lost. It was kind of hard to navigate while at night so that surely must be the only problem. The swordsman was actually just going to resign to sleeping on the water until a voice from above broke the silence.

"Hey Zoro, are you lost?"

Zoro stopped swimming and looked up to see Luffy seemingly hovering above him. The captain had concerned creased within his face, but also a touch of humor. Zoro grinned back, happy to see the familiar face.

"Hmm, what makes you say that Captain?"

Luffy placed a finger on his chin and pretended to think on that for a while. "Other than the fact that you're swimming in the opposite direct of the island?"

In lack of any sort of rebuttal, Zoro stayed silent, which got a hearty laugh of the floating Captain above him. "Oh Zoro, I'm afraid if you ever learn geppo that you'll accidently fly off to the New World by mistake."

"Just point me in the right direction."

"As you wish. Make an 180-degree turn and that will put you on the right path," said Luffy as he ascended higher. "I'll come back to check on you in another two hours!"

Then the Captain shot off the air and rocketed back to dry land, disappearing in the low light. Zoro left out a huff and turned around, finally swimming in the right direction.

"Wait… did he mean my 180 or his 180?"

* * *

 **A/N: Don't over think it Zoro. Anyway, this chapter was my shortest in a while. I originally intended for Nami to be awake for at least part of the chapter, but it just didn't happen that way. What did you think about the training? Good? Bad?**

 **Also, I mulled over the interaction between Nojiko and Luffy for a long time. I feel like she would be rather interested in the way Luffy – a supposed marine captain – would act, considering her mother was a marine as well. Speaking of the conversation, it seems Luffy has a few more secrets; one obviously being the Voice of All Things. Since Luffy has it in canon, I didn't think it was much of a stretch to say he developed it earlier to fill the void of human contact.**

 **Surprise, surprise. Since the seriousness is on the back burner, there is an Omake this chapter. Rejoice!**

* * *

 **Omake by: Gmann**

* * *

Tobacco. Fluffy, delicious, wonderful tobacco. Its green leaves were made from the wings of fairies and its robust stock was a delight to the senses. The sweet smell it gave off was akin to adore a rose touched by an angel would smell of. It was what made the Earth turn, gave life to mankind, and insured the sun would rise in the East. It was a gift granted by God.

So why had God forsaken Sanji?

This was the main question that plastered the walls of Sanji's mind as he rushed from one side of the island to the other in search of a wild tobacco plant, a tray of cigarette butts, or anything really. He would literally take or do just about anything right now.

Delirious with withdraw symptoms, he tripped and fell into a puddle of water, body shivering despite it actually being quite warm. While picking himself up, the cook saw his reflection in the shimmering pool and it brought a bad taste him his mouth, and that wasn't just because he accidently swallowed some mud.

 _Get it together Sanji. This isn't you. Have some class about yourself. If a lady were to see you, they would probably think you were some sort of uncultured trash!_

Lost in thought, Sanji didn't even hear the footsteps approaching him and did not acknowledge the presence until they made themselves known.

"Oi, cook."

The distressed chef looked up from the mud to see a familiar moss flavored swordsman. Sanji tried to speak but found that his teeth were chattering too much to do so. Zoro didn't seem to notice of care.

"Luffy found a carton of ciga-"

Before the sentence could be finished, Sanji was already halfway across the island, so caught up in the idea of sweet release that he didn't even realize he was using geppo and was running across the air. Within moments he touched down on the ship, looking around frantically for his captain.

"Sanji," a hand reached out and touched his shoulder softly but firmly. The blonde turned around to be greeted with the smiling faces of the crew. They slowly formed a circle around him, as if expecting him to attempt to flee.

 _Wait, why would they… oh no. NO, NO, NO, NO!_

Luffy, the one with a hand on his shoulder, spoke once more. Uttering the sentence Sanji dreaded the most.

"Sanji, this is an intervention."

* * *

 **A/N: Shout out to anyone who gets the reference.**


End file.
